Leland Tax Return Preparer Guilty of False Claims

Felicia C. Adams, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi, and Gabriel “Gabe” Grchan, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, New Orleans Field Office, announce that:

 Felicia R. Fults, 31, of Leland, Mississippi, pled guilty on October 24 to filing false claims with the federal government.  Fults will be sentenced in approximately 90 days.  Fults faces up to nine years imprisonment, up to a $250,000 fine and up to one year supervised release.

The investigation by Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations revealed that Fults submitted tax returns to the IRS fraudulently claiming inflated or fabricated Schedule C income for her clients and by claiming her clients were Statutory Employees, resulting in self-employment taxes not being calculated, thus enabling her clients to maximize their tax refund.  The false returns resulted in claimed refunds of approximately $2,567,988.

Return Preparer fraud is a priority for IRS Criminal Investigation, and we have committed many resources to investigating and prosecuting cases just like this one,” said Gabriel Grchan, Special Agent in Charge, IRS-CI, New Orleans Field Office.  “It is my hope that the guilty plea entered today by Felicia Fults further assures the taxpaying citizens of our country that IRS – CI is serious about protecting the United States Treasury.”

This case was investigated by Special Agents of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations, and was prosecuted by the Office of the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Mississippi.