Richmond County resident and "ghost" tax preparer Kim Brown has been sentenced to 22 months behind bars for her role in a tax fraud scheme. According to an announcement from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Georgia, the 40-year-old from Augusta was also ordered to pay more than half a million in restitution – a cool $541,912, to be exact.
In her guilty plea to two counts of Aiding and Assisting in the Preparation and Filing of False Income Tax Returns, Brown admitted to operating a tax prep service from her home where she systematically filed falsified tax returns. Instead of just preparing taxes, she was caught fabricating income and deductions to unjustly qualify her clients for credits and increase their refunds. United States Attorney Margaret E. Heap summed it up stating, "Kim Brown stole money from taxpayers, and this sentence holds her accountable." After serving her sentence, Brown will undergo one year of supervised release, with federal rules mandating there be no parole included.
IRS agents are always on the prowl for these ghost preparers, who, like Brown, fail to comply with IRS protocols by not identifying themselves on returns they file. Special Agent in Charge Demetrius Hardeman from the IRS Criminal Investigation Atlanta Field Office said in the court documents, "Today’s sentencing of Kim Brown is an example of IRS Criminal Investigation special agents working diligently to protect taxpayers from dishonest tax preparers and a notification to the public of just one scheme utilized by ghost tax preparers."
Deeper details revealed at sentencing showed Brown's operation to rapidly increase client refunds, which she then used as the basis for her fees. Her tactics involved charging her clients based on how much she could get back for them, not providing them with copies of the tax returns, nor reviewing them with the clients before submission. Along with an accomplice, she managed to cause the U.S. Treasury Department to issue refunds amounting to $541,912. The case was brought to justice through the investigative work of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, with Assistant U.S. Attorney George J.C. Jacobs, III, prosecuting on behalf of the United States.
