Phoenix tax return preparer pleads guilty to false claims

On March 9, 2015, Jamila K. Smith, of Phoenix, Arizona, pleaded guilty to making a false claim. Smith agreed to make restitution of $363,055 to the Internal Revenue Service and is scheduled to be sentenced on June 1, 2015.

According to her plea agreement, Jamila Smith prepared and filed income tax returns for others from her Phoenix residence starting in 2010. Smith fabricated wages and expense information on many of the Form 1040 tax returns. She regularly created false Form W-2s for tax clients, reporting false wages and fictitious withholdings. The false wages and withholdings were used by defendant to get fraudulent tax refunds for her clients.

The fictitious wages generated undeserved “earned income” credits, additional child tax credits, and other refundable credits. These sham credits, along with the fictitious withholdings, generated fraudulent refunds for defendant’s tax clients.

The case is being investigated by special agents with IRS Criminal Investigation.