Tennessee Woman Charged with Preparing False Tax Returns

A federal grand jury returned an indictment yesterday charging a Memphis woman with preparing false tax returns for others and willfully failing to file her own tax returns.

According to the indictment, between 2021 and 2024, Lynette Hogue prepared and filed with the IRS false and fraudulent income tax returns for clients of the tax preparation business where she worked. These tax returns allegedly contained false and fraudulent items, which generated refunds the clients were not entitled to receive.

According to the indictment, Hogue willfully failed to file her own tax returns for these same years, even though she earned substantial income from her tax return preparation business and was required to file by law.

Hogue is charged with 29 counts of willfully aiding and assisting the preparation and presentation of false tax returns and four counts of willfully failing to file a tax return. If convicted, she faces up to three years in prison for each false return count and one year in prison for each count of failing to file a tax return.

Assistant Attorney General Colin McDonald of the Justice Department's National Fraud Enforcement Division and U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant for the Western District of Tennessee made the announcement.

Trial Attorneys Isaiah Boyd III and Matthew C. Hicks of the Criminal Division's Tax Section are prosecuting the case.

An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division ("Fraud Division"). The Fraud Division is laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department's work to combat fraud supports President Trump's Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within Federal benefit programs.