Ebiz Tax Prepwner Gets Two Years for Fraudulent Schemes

CHICAGO — The grimy details of a sordid financial scheme have emerged as Lisa Lloyd Taylor, the owner of Ebiz Accounting Services in Country Club Hills, Ill., has been sentenced to two years in federal prison for orchestrating a variety of schemes that bilked the IRS, U.S. Department of Education, and U.S. Social Security Administration out of over $1 million.

Taylor, 57, faces a severe penalty for her willful filing of false personal and corporate tax returns from 2010 to 2013. These fraudulent documents substantially underreported both her own income and the earnings of her business. Additionally, between 2011 and 2015, Taylor prepared thousands of tax returns for clients that falsely claimed deductions for charitable contributions and child-care expenses.

These deceptions resulted in a staggering total federal and state tax loss exceeding $1.02 million. But Taylor’s deceit didn’t stop there. She also defrauded the Department of Education by underreporting her income, securing over $53,000 in financial aid benefits for her children that they would otherwise not have qualified for.

Taylor continued her fraudulent spree by collecting more than $134,000 in disability benefits from the Social Security Administration to which she was not entitled. From 2011 to 2017, she concealed her employment and income from the SSA. The judge’s decision came after a hearing at federal court in Chicago on Friday.

The sentence was handed down by U.S. District Judge Andrea R. Wood. John R. Lausch, Jr., United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Justin Campbell, Special Agent-in-Charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation Division in Chicago, announced the sentence. The investigation received substantial assistance from the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General and the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Eichenseer represented the government.

Lisa Lloyd Taylor pleaded guilty to federal tax and theft charges, reflecting a grim chapter in Chicago’s financial crime saga.