A St. Louis, Missouri-based tax preparer was arrested after being indicted and accused of fraudulently preparing 41 tax returns for clients.
Shasherese M. Reed, 52, was indicted by a grand jury in U.S. District Court in St. Louis on April 10 on 41 counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false and fraudulent tax returns.
The indictment states that in 2015, the IRS revoked the Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) assigned to Reed and the Electronic Filing Identification Number issued to her business, Sha-Sha Taxes. Consequently, she was no longer authorized to prepare tax returns for compensation. Despite this, from 2017 to 2022, Reed prepared tax returns using a tax preparation business, Majac Money, opened by her daughter and operated from Reed’s home.
According to the indictment, Reed prepared 41 fraudulent tax returns using her daughter’s PTIN and falsely identified her daughter as the paid preparer on the returns. These returns claimed false deductions for state and local taxes, business expenses, medical and dental expenses, and mortgage interest.
“Return preparer fraud remains a top investigative priority for IRS Criminal Investigation (CI),” said Special Agent in Charge Thomas F. Murdock of the St. Louis Field Office. “Our agency devotes a large amount of time and resources to presenting such cases to the U.S. Attorney for prosecution. The IRS encourages taxpayers to be selective and verify a return preparer’s credentials before enlisting their services for a fee. CI will aggressively pursue those who present corrupt credentials and deceive honest taxpayers into trusting them.”
Each charge Reed faces is punishable by up to three years in prison, a $100,000 fine, or both.
IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow is prosecuting the case.
