(FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE)
 
 

Shreveport, Louisiana . . .   EMILY ANNETTE ANDERSON, 43, of Shreveport, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Tom Stagg to spend 15 months in prison for filing false claims for refunds on income tax returns, United States Attorney Donald W. Washington announced.  The sentencing was held in U.S. District Court in Shreveport.  ANDERSON was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $153,000 to the Internal Revenue Service.

A bill of information was filed in July 2001 charging ANDERSON with filing false  income tax returns.  ANDERSON pled guilty to the charge in July and admitted that she was a paid tax preparer in the Shreveport area between April 1997 and April 2000.  While working in that capacity, ANDERSON prepared income tax returns for her clients claiming false deductions that resulted in refunds which her clients were not entitled to receive.  ANDERSON used the IRS electronic filing program to process her clients’ tax returns.  The refunds created by the returns were electronically transferred to a bank account controlled by ANDERSON.  Tax preparation fees and other costs were electronically deducted from the refunds and the refunds were then prepared for ANDERSON’s clients in the form of checks which she produced on her business computer.
 Sentencing in federal court is governed by the United States Sentencing Guidelines.  Parole has been abolished in the federal system.

This case was investigated by the Inspector General’s Office for Tax Administration in New Orleans, and was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Martha J. Levardsen.

For further information, please contact United States Attorney Donald W. Washington at 337-262-6618 or First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Flanagan at 318-676-3600.

This and other press releases issued by the United States Attorney's Office for the Western District of Louisiana can be found at our website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/law.

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