I came across this recent article out of East St. Louis. A tax preparer has been accused of filing over $1 million in fraudulent returns. Even more appallingly, the woman was herself drawing Social Security Benefits, receiving subsidized public housing and not paying taxes on her own income.
I wanted to draw attention to this article because I have seen dozens of clients that have trusted people like this. Unfortunately, there are a lot of tax preparers in the Mid-South willing to help facilitate fraud. They promise “free money” and never tell their clients about the ramifications when their fraud gets discovered.
Every year, I see legitimately disabled clients lose their Social Security Claims because they were greedy, desperate or foolish enough to allow a tax preparer to put in one of these fraudulent returns. Assuming the charges contained in the indictment are true, this is a good step for East St. Louis. I hope that law enforcement in the Mid-South follows suit.
