Tax preparer gets 12 years in prison for bogus returns

A 29-year-old Atlanta woman accused of claiming more than $20 million in fraudulent tax refunds was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison this week, according to federal authorities.

Investigators said Cheryl Singleton got overly creative with the tax code at the tax preparation business, Advanced Tax Services, that she owned and operated at five metro Atlanta locations.

Between 2011 and 2016, authorities said, Singleton instructed employees to use several illegal techniques to boost customer refunds. Besides filling tax forms with fake financial figures, some of the company’s 12 employees claimed false dependents and nonexistent businesses on customers’ tax forms.

The refunds were split with clients, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. No charges are pending against any other people, authorities said.

Singleton’s business didn’t stop there, according to a press release from Stuart M. Goldberg, of the Justice Department’s tax division, and U.S. Attorney John Horn in Atlanta.

Singleton and her employees also offered clients “Obama stimulus” payments to get their personal identification information, then filed false tax returns without their knowledge, the release said.

Authorities said Singleton, using stolen or fake IDs, also attempted to take out more than $421,000 in fraudulent loans and credit card charges from financial institution USAA.

Altogether, investigators estimated that Singleton and her clients collected more than $20 million in inflated and fake tax refunds and proceeds from identity theft.

Singleton pleaded guilty to wire fraud last August, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. Besides the 150-month prison sentence, she was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $4.9 million in restitution to the IRS and $105,597 to USAA.