Preparing false income tax returns in the names of prison inmates was one of the schemes a Kansas City, Kan., tax preparer used to defraud the Internal Revenue Service of more than $400,000, U.S. Attorney Barry Grissom said Tuesday.
Prayshana Washington, 28, Kansas City, Kan., pleaded guilty to one count of preparing false income tax returns and one count of aggravated identity theft.
In her plea, she admitted that from 2012 to 2015 she was in the business of preparing individual income tax returns for clients, who generally paid between $500 and $1,000 for her services. She admitted:
• Preparing a 2012 return for a client that included false claims about dependents, false household help income, and false American Opportunity Credits.
• Directing the IRS to deposit fraudulent returns onto prepaid debit cards and mail them to addresses she controlled.
• Obtaining names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers for prison inmates and preparing fraudulent income tax returns in their names.
Sentencing will be set for a later date. The parties have agreed to recommend a sentence of 37 months in federal prison. Grissom commended the Internal Revenue Service, Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott Rask and Matthew Kluge, Trial Attorney with the U.S. Department of Justice, Tax Division, for their work on the case.