Rocky Mount Return Preparer Pleads Guilty to Multi-Year Tax Fraud Scheme

RALEIGH, N.C. – A Rocky Mount woman pleaded guilty today to Conspiracy to Defraud the United States.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Adrienne Jeanine Williams, 48, owned and operated Ultimate Tax Service, a return preparation business, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. For tax years 2011 through 2016, six other return preparers worked for Williams.  Clients’ returns included an array of false items to include education credits, itemized deductions, wages, and Schedule C businesses, but the primary false item was making it appear the clients had already paid taxes when they had not.  This created a dollar-for-dollar enlarged refund.  In all, the false returns prepared and filed by Williams and her employees on behalf of clients claimed approximately $4.4 million federal income tax withholdings for which the IRS never received a corresponding Form 1099 corroborating the claimed withholding.  The loss to the United States exceeded $3.5 million.

Williams also filed false returns in her own name for tax years 2011, 2014, 2015, and 2017, similarly claiming she paid additional 1099 withholding when she had not.

Robert J. Higdon, Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina made the announcement after Chief U.S. District Judge Terrence W. Boyle accepted the plea.  The Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigations is investigating the case and Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Menzer  and Tax Division Trial Attorney Michael Jones are prosecuting the case.  Chief Judge Boyle will sentence Williams during the January 2021 term of court.

The maximum penalty is five years’ imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. 

A copy of this press release is located on our website. Related court documents and information can be found on the website of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina or on PACER by searching for Case No. 4:20-cr-00079-BO.

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