Cleveland Income Tax Preparer Charged with Filing False Returns

CLEVELAND - A 46-year-old woman has been arrested for her role in preparing and filing false federal income tax returns on behalf of her clients.

Sherita Booker, of Cleveland, was charged by criminal complaint on April 9 for Aiding or Assisting in the Preparation of False and Fraudulent Federal Income Tax Returns.

According to court documents, she learned to prepare returns while working at a national tax return preparation company from about June 2016 to April 2017. Thereafter, she started her own and operated a tax return preparation business under different entity names, as well as her own name.

During the investigation, agents discovered that when Booker prepared tax returns for clients, she allegedly attached fraudulent Schedule C documents (used to indicate business profit and losses) to clients' Form 1040-even though clients did not own businesses. Booker also employed other schemes to avoid tax due and owing to the IRS by her clients.

If convicted, Booker faces up to three years in prison per count. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

This investigation was conducted by the Internal Revenue Services-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI).

Assistant United States Attorneys Brenna L. Fasko and Elliot Morrison for the Northern District of Ohio are leading the prosecution.

A criminal complaint is merely an accusation. The defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.

About IRS-CI

IRS Criminal Investigation is the law enforcement arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 19 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.