A Charlotte, North Carolina, tax return preparer was sentenced to 24 months in prison today for assisting in the filing of false tax returns, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney R. Andrew Murray for the Western District of North Carolina.

According to documents and information provided to the court, from 2011 through 2017, Shawanda Elmore owned and operated C and W Tax Professionals, a tax return preparation business in Charlotte. Elmore fraudulently increased her clients’ tax refunds by preparing returns that claimed false deductions and reported income and expenses for fictitious businesses in order to claim the Earned Income Tax Credit. In total, Elmore prepared approximately 500 fraudulent tax returns that claimed over $500,000 in false tax refunds from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

In addition to the term of imprisonment imposed, Elmore was ordered to serve one year of supervised release and to pay restitution in the amount of $517,738 to the Internal Revenue Service.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman and U.S. Attorney Murray commended special agents of IRS Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Trial Attorneys Alexander Effendi and Lauren Archer of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting the case.