A Georgia woman who operated a “ghost” tax preparation business in Augusta was sentenced to 22 months in federal prison on Aug. 21 and ordered to pay restitution for defrauding the IRS.
Kim Brown, 40, of Augusta, pleaded guilty to two counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation and filing of false income tax returns, said Margaret E. Heap, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.
U.S. District Court Judge J. Randal Hall also ordered Brown to pay $541,912 in restitution and to serve one year of supervised release upon completion of her 22-month prison term.
“In collaboration with our law enforcement partners, we continue to pursue those who defraud the government,” Heap said in a statement. “Kim Brown stole money from taxpayers, and this sentence holds her accountable.”
As described in court documents and at sentencing, Brown operated a tax preparation business out of her home in 2022 where she acted as a “ghost preparer”—someone who fails to identify themself as a paid preparer on the tax returns prepared and filed for clients.
As a ghost preparer, Brown fabricated income to qualify her clients for tax credits, claimed fake deductions to boost the size of the refund, and charged clients a fee based on a percentage of the tax refund, court documents said. Brown didn’t provide her clients with a copy of the tax returns she prepared, nor did she review the returns with clients before electronically filing them with the IRS.
Brown and another individual ghost prepared false tax returns that caused the Treasury Department to issue $541,912 in false tax refunds, court documents said.
“Not signing off on a tax return is just one of the signs someone is acting as a ghost preparer,” said Demetrius Hardeman, special agent in charge, IRS Criminal Investigation, Atlanta Field Office. “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.”
Photo credit: DNY59/iStock
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