United States Attorney Joe Kelly announced that Opal Harris, age 38, of Omaha, Nebraska, was sentenced Monday in federal court for willfully preparing a false tax return. The Honorable Robert F. Rossiter, Jr. sentenced Harris to five years of probation and ordered her to pay $31,404 in restitution.
An investigation conducted by IRS Criminal Investigations determined that Harris worked as an income tax preparer at Wise Tax Solutions, a business owned and operated by Harris and her husband. Investigators learned that Wise Tax Solutions customer tax returns prepared by Harris represented, through the inclusion of a Schedule C, income amounts that were false. As a result of the falsified individual income tax returns, Wise Tax Solutions’ customers qualified for earned income tax credit to which they were not entitled. Based upon these tax credits, customers received income tax refunds to which they were not entitled.
Between 2012 and 2015, Harris prepared and filed with the IRS federal income tax returns that were false and fraudulent, resulting in a loss to the IRS totaling $31,404.
“Tax practitioners and return preparers have a duty to their clients to prepare tax returns that comply with the law and are complete and accurate," said Karl Stiften, Special Agent in Charge of IRS Criminal Investigation.
This case was investigated by IRS Criminal Investigations.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
