WASHINGTON — A Newport News tax preparer was sentenced by a judge to 27 months in prison for preparing false tax returns, according to the Justice Department’s Tax Division.
Angela Harper, who owned At Ease Tax Services, operated her business in her home and hotel rooms in Newport News, according to court documents.
Harper prepared tax returns between 2014 and 2018 that claimed fraudulent credits and deductions in an effort to boost her clients' refunds.
In total, Harper filed more than 400 false tax returns. The false tax returns caused more than $700,000 in losses for the Internal Revenue Service.
She did not sign the returns to make it appear that the returns were self-prepared by her clients.
Harper also did not review the completed returns with her clients, and she did not provide copies of the returns even when clients requested them.
Special agents of IRS Criminal Investigation conducted the investigation, and Trial Attorney Francine Davis and Assistant Chief Michael Boteler of the Tax Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Samuels of the Eastern District of Virginia, prosecuted the case.
