Finecia Draper, Tax Return Preparer Fraud, Louisiana 2023

Finecia Draper, a tax return preparer from Simmesport, Louisiana, has been permanently barred from preparing federal income tax returns for others. The federal court made this decision in a complaint filed by the government.

According to the government’s complaint, Draper prepared false returns through her sole proprietorship, B&R’s Unlimited Fashion, located at 245 Moreau Street in Simmesport, Louisiana. The court ordered Draper to prominently post a notice in her place of business stating that she is barred from preparing tax returns for others.

The government alleged that Draper prepared tax returns that fraudulently understated her customers’ income and tax liabilities and/or overstated the refunds they were entitled to receive. She did so by submitting Schedules C, Profit or Loss From Business, with the returns to fabricate or inflate business losses claimed by her customers. In many of the examples cited in the complaint, the taxpayer did not even own or operate a business.

As a result of Draper’s actions, the government alleged that she overstated refunds and understated tax liability by over $275,000 in the aggregate, based on audits of 163 returns prepared by Draper in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

Draper prepared over 2,000 returns from 2011 to 2015, according to the complaint. The IRS has identified tax return preparer fraud as one of its Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2017.

The Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers in the past decade. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website. An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found on this page.

Finecia Draper, Defendant, Crime: Permanently barred from preparing federal income tax returns for others, State: Louisiana, Date: Not available, Sentence: Permanently barred from preparing tax returns for others, Additional information: Prepared over 2,000 returns from 2011 to 2015, resulting in $275,000 in understated tax liability.