Memphis Tax Preparer Indicted for Preparing False Returns and Witness Tampering

Memphis, TN - A federal grand jury returned an indictment today charging a Memphis woman with helping prepare false tax returns for clients and tampering with witnesses in the government's investigation. U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant, for the Western District of Tennessee, announced the indictment.

According to the indictment: From at least 2018 through 2024, Selma Brinson, 64, owned and operated a tax preparation business that she used to report false items on clients' tax returns to generate inflated tax refunds. Among other false items, Brinson allegedly reported false fuel tax credits and false claims for residential energy credits on client returns. She received hundreds of thousands of dollars in client fees in exchange for preparing returns.

After learning she was the target of a federal grand jury investigation, Brinson allegedly encouraged at least two of her clients to tell federal investigators they did not recall their interactions with her. Even after Brinson's tax preparation business was expelled from the IRS's electronic filing program, she allegedly instructed a family member to apply for a new electronic filing number and then used that number to continue preparing and filing false tax returns with the IRS.

Brinson is charged with 24 counts of aiding and assisting the preparation of false tax returns and two counts of witness tampering. If convicted, she faces maximum penalties of three years in prison for each count of assisting in the preparation of false tax returns and 20 years for each count of witness tampering. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Caroline Pearson and Max Willner-Giwerc, of the Department of Justice's Criminal Division, Tax Section, are prosecuting the case.

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

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