A tax preparer from St. Louis County admitted in court to falsifying federal income tax returns for clients, the U.S. District Court in St. Louis reported Thursday. Elisa Y. Brown, aged 60, pleaded guilty to two counts of assisting in the preparation of a false tax return. Brown acknowledged that she had been preparing fraudulent tax returns from 2016 to 2020.
For her services, Brown charged between $150 and $250 per tax return, using commercial tax preparation software from her home. She did not possess a Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN), which the IRS requires for tax returns prepared for a fee. She digitally signed each tax return with the name of the taxpayer, making it seem as if the taxpayer themselves had prepared the document. The fraudulent returns included false deductions such as medical and dental expenses, cash donations, and fictitious business expenses recorded on Schedule C forms.
Over the period, Brown prepared 42 falsified federal income tax returns, causing an IRS tax loss of $171,866. In total, Brown prepared and submitted 560 tax returns, many of which contained similar mistakes regarding deductible expenses.
Brown is set to receive her sentence on July 22. Each count of the charge might result in up to three years in prison or a $250,000 fine, or both.
The case against Brown was investigated by the IRS - Criminal Investigations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow serves as the prosecutor in the case.
