Judge Sentences Unregistered St. Louis Tax Return Preparer For Fraud

From the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Missouri:

June 17, 2021

ST. LOUIS – United States District Judge John A. Ross sentenced Lakisha Smith to 32 months in prison and ordered her to pay $10,416 in restitution to the to the Internal Revenue Service today. The 39-year-old St. Louis, Missouri resident pleaded guilty in March to two counts of tax fraud.

Smith, from 2013 to 2016, prepared approximately 28 fraudulent tax returns for her clients using the TaxAct commercial website. She prepared client returns reporting false income and withholdings in order to generate larger tax refunds. Smith typically received cash payments of up to $2,500.00 from the false refunds paid to her customers.

Smith was not registered with the Internal Revenue Service as a return preparer.

The Internal Revenue Service investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer Roy is handling the case.

This press release was produced by the US Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Missouri. The views expressed here are the author’s own.