Lexington tax preparer pleads guilty to filing false tax returns

LEXINGTON, Ky.--A Fayette County tax preparer, Tiffany Williams, has entered a guilty plea in federal court concerning charges of preparing and filing fraudulent tax returns through their business, Quality Tax Services (QTS), based in Lexington, Kentucky. The plea agreement, filed this Tuesday, shines a light on a deceptive practice that spanned from 2014 to 2017, posing serious questions about ethical standards in tax preparation services.

Established in 2014, QTS presented itself as a reputable tax preparation entity. However, under the guise of providing legitimate services, Williams and her partners engaged in a systematic scheme to defraud the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) by preparing and submitting tax returns with intentionally falsified deductions, particularly inflated business expenses. This manipulation directly contravened the provisions of the Internal Revenue laws, misleading the IRS to grant undeserved tax benefits to clients.

One notable instance, detailed in the plea, involved the preparation of a tax return for a client identified only as D.R., which egregiously listed $29,426.00 in business expenses for a nonexistent farming business. This return, submitted on March 20, 2017, stands as a stark example of the fraudulent activities carried out by Williams and her associates at QTS.

The legal repercussions facing Williams underscore the severity of the offenses, with statutory penalties including imprisonment for up to three years, fines reaching $250,000, and a potential term of supervised release of up to one year.

Photo byDALLE/Lexington Times