BATON ROUGE, La. (BRPROUD) — A Baker woman was sentenced to 24 months after being convicted for assisting in preparing false tax returns.
According to U.S. Attorney Ronald Gathe Jr., Bridget White, 48, admitted to operating an income tax preparation business, known as “Bridget’s Stop and Go Tax Services” and “Bridgett’s Tax Service” from her Baker home. White prepared tax returns for money but did not identify herself as the paid preparer.
From January 2015 through June 2018, White prepared and submitted multiple fake income tax returns to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on behalf of her clients. The Department of Justice said in those submitted claims, White also reported false business, education and dependent claims. The changes inflated returns while falsely decreasing the taxes owed.
During the investigation, the IRS found 31 false filings on behalf of 13 individual clients, which caused a loss of $149,993.
“Fraudulent tax preparers cheat the government and honest taxpayers and will be dealt with accordingly. I want to thank my prosecutors and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigators for their hard work on this case,” said Gathe.
White was sentenced to two years in federal prison, one year of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $149,993.
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