La Vergne Woman Pleads Guilty In Six-Figure Tax Return Scheme

NASHVILLE, TN — A La Vergne pleaded guilty in federal court this week on charges related to a tax-preparation scheme that netted her hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Michelle Theus, 42, was a tax return preparer for Cole Tax Services in La Vergne.

"Theus admitted that from 2009 through 2012 she filed false tax returns on behalf of her clients for the 2008 through 2011 tax years,” U.S. Attorney David Rivera said in a release. “Unbeknownst to her clients, Theus routinely reported false items on the tax returns she prepared, such as false dependents and false education and childcare credits, in order to increase her clients’ refunds.”

Theus would then give a copy of an accurate return to the client while filing a false return with the Internal Revenue Service and would use the IRS' direct deposit service to split the refund. Her clients would receive a refund for the correct amount, while the difference would go into Theus' bank account or into the account of one of her family members.

"Theus took steps to conceal her wrongdoing from the IRS and her clients by not signing the tax returns she prepared, which gave the IRS the impression that the clients prepared the tax returns themselves and by listing her and her family members’ addresses on the tax returns to divert correspondence from the IRS away from the clients,” Rivera said. “Theus admitted that she prepared approximately 206 tax returns for her clients and that the intended tax loss for these returns is approximately $450,959.”

Furthermore, on her personal returns, Theus underreported her income by more than $95,000, dodging more than $37,000 in taxes.

Theus is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 11, 2017. She faces a maximum sentence of three years in prison, plus monetary penalties.

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