Finecia Draper, Tax Return Scam, Louisiana 2017

Tax Dollars

Simmesport, LA – In a shocking turn of events, a local tax return preparer has been accused of perpetuating a massive tax fraud scheme, leaving thousands of dollars in unpaid taxes in her wake. Finecia Draper, owner of Unlimited Fashion at 245 Moreau St. in Simmesport, has been slapped with a civil suit by the Justice Department, seeking a permanent ban from preparing federal tax returns and a hefty restitution.

The complaint alleges that Draper has been fabricating or inflating business losses on her customers’ returns, resulting in underreporting their tax liabilities and overstating their refunds. In many cases, the taxpayers did not even own or operate a business, making the alleged scheme even more egregious.

According to the complaint, Draper has also been claiming and/or inflating the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) on her customers’ returns, despite being previously penalized over $97,000 by the IRS for failure to exercise the required due diligence. The EITC is a benefit for working taxpayers with low to moderate income, and Draper’s alleged actions would have denied the IRS a significant amount of revenue.

The complaint further alleges that audits of 163 returns prepared by Draper in 2011, 2012, and 2013 revealed that she overstated refunds and understated tax liability on 134 (82 percent) of these returns, resulting in a tax loss of over $275,000 in the aggregate. This staggering figure highlights the scope of Draper’s alleged scheme and the devastating impact it would have had on the IRS and American taxpayers.

Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’s Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2017, and taxpayers are advised to remain vigilant when choosing a return preparer. The IRS has tips on its website for choosing a return preparer and has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers.

The Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers in the past decade, and information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website. If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details.

Finecia Draper’s alleged scheme is a stark reminder of the importance of transparency and accountability in the tax preparation industry. The Justice Department’s actions will serve as a warning to other would-be tax scammers that they will be caught and held accountable for their actions.

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