PHOENIX — A Valley tax preparer faces sentencing later this year and must pay restitution after helping a client file false tax documents to the Internal Revenue Service.
Tschanavia Keyosha Jones pleaded guilty in the Arizona U.S. District Court to one felony count last week after admitting that in 2016 she prepared and filed a client’s tax return knowing that certain claimed expenses were false.
The false claims — which included purported educational and housekeeping business expenses — resulted in a tax refund that the client should not have received according to federal officials. The tax loss was valued between $40,000 and $100,000, according to the plea agreement filed in the case.
“Every year more than half of all U.S. taxpayers rely on paid tax preparers to prepare their returns. We expect these tax professionals to file accurate returns for their clients,” said Albert Childress, the IRS criminal investigation acting special agent in charge, in a statement. “Tax professionals who intentionally prepare false returns will pay the consequences for their bad deeds.”
Jones, who moved to Arizona in or around 2015 after operating a tax preparation business in California, is scheduled to be sentenced on September 7.
Read more of this story from the Phoenix Business Journal.
