Christina Moles, Tax Evasion, Indiana 2023

INDIANAPOLIS— A tax preparer from Redkey, Indiana has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for filing nearly 400 false tax returns.

Christina Moles, 50, of Redkey, Indiana, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release after pleading guilty to wire fraud and aiding and assisting the making of a false federal income tax return. Moles has also been ordered to pay $567,010 in restitution.

According to court documents, between 2015 and 2021, Moles executed a tax fraud scheme in which she falsified 382 federal income tax returns for numerous clients without their knowledge. During this time, Moles was a tax return preparer and frequently attracted customers by advertising that her business would guarantee large refunds. Many of Moles’ customers received between $5,000-$10,000 in refunds despite having modest incomes.

To increase the amount of refunds her clients would receive, Moles falsely stated that her clients qualified for the American Opportunity Tax Credit (“AOTC”). The AOTC is a credit for qualified education expenses paid for an eligible student for the first four years of higher education. Taxpayers can get a maximum annual credit of $2,500 per eligible student. To be eligible to claim the AOTC, a taxpayer (or a dependent) must have received a Form 1098-T, Tuition Statement, from an eligible educational institution.

For these false tax returns, Moles claimed that her clients incurred educational expenses to either Ivy Tech or Penn Foster online college. In reality, none of these clients had any education expenses and did not attend Ivy Tech or Penn Foster. In addition, neither institution provided a Form 1098-T, Tuition Statement, which Moles would have needed to claim qualified educational expenses for her clients.

As a result of this scheme, Moles’ clients received tax credits to which they were not entitled, causing a loss to the Internal Revenue Service of approximately $567,010.

The defendant’s deceit didn’t just cheat the system; it undermined a benefit intended to help families invest in their futures. When trust is traded for profit, everyone pays the price.

Related Federal Cases