David E. Nahmias, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia, and James D. Vickery, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division, announce that DEBORAH L. THROWER, 51, and SHASHONA P. PAYTON, 34, both of Stone Mountain, Georgia, were sentenced today by United States District Judge Clarence Cooper on charges of conspiracy to commit tax fraud. According to Nahmias, and the documents and information presented in court:

THROWER was sentenced to 21 months in prison, was ordered to pay $337,684 in restitution to the IRS, and was given a 3 year term of supervised release. PAYTON was sentenced to a two year term of probation, with a special condition that she serve six months of the probationary term in home confinement. She was also ordered to pay $60,251 in restitution to the IRS.
THROWER and PAYTON, who are mother and daughter, pled guilty in October, 2004 to conspiring with one another to file false tax returns with the IRS in order to generate fraudulent tax refunds for their clients. THROWER and PAYTON operated a personal income tax return preparation service in Stone Mountain and later in Decatur, Georgia. For a fee, THROWER and PAYTON prepared federal income tax returns for their clients that were electronically filed with the IRS. In pleading guilty, THROWER and PAYTON admitted that they knowingly falsified their clients' federal income tax returns in order to generate a fraudulent refund by, among other things, falsely inflating the taxpayer's allowable expenses and deductions, and by falsely reporting the taxpayer's filing status, eligibility for dependent exemptions, individual retirement account contributions, student loan deductions, child care credits and expenses, and eligibility for the Earned Income Tax Credit. The effect of these false entries was to negate the taxpayer's taxable income, which, when combined with the taxpayer's withholdings, generated a false refund payment by the IRS.

This case was investigated by Special Agents of the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation Division.
Assistant United States Attorney Paul N. Monnin prosecuted the case.

For further information please contact David E. Nahmias, United States Attorney, or F. Gentry Shelnutt, Criminal Division Chief, through Patrick Crosby, Public Affairs Officer, U.S. Attorney's Office, at (404) 581-6016. The Internet address for the HomePage for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia is http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/gan.