A federal judge sentenced former St. Louis tax preparer Latasha L. Frison to 56 months in prison Wednesday and ordered her to repay $270,793 after a jury found she spent years filing falsified returns for clients while running a downtown tax-preparation business. The 39-year-old was convicted on all 16 counts of aiding and assisting in preparing and presenting false and fraudulent tax returns, with the falsified filings tied to six taxpayers across tax years 2020 through 2023.
U.S. District Judge Joshua M. Divine handed down the sentence, according to the Department of Justice, which said the case stemmed from Frison’s preparation of false tax returns. Trial evidence showed that between 2021 and 2024, Frison filed more than 680 individual income tax returns, and all but two of them claimed a refund, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri.
A Downtown Business Built on Fabricated Deductions
Frison opened her tax-preparation business in late 2017 and operated it under names including Taxed Rite, according to KTTN. The station’s report says she created fictitious businesses for clients and claimed tens of thousands of dollars in fraudulent business expenses on Schedule C forms, while also improperly claiming a COVID-19 tax credit meant for taxpayers who were sick or caring for ill family members.
One of the more brazen fabrications involved fuel purchases. Per the same account, Frison invented qualifying fuel purchases for clients, including one return that claimed a full-time liquor store cashier had purchased 40,000 gallons of fuel in a single year. The falsified returns, the report notes, resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in refunds for which the taxpayers were not actually eligible.
High Fees, a $22,000 Refund, and a Spike in Credits
Frison’s returns contained an unusually high percentage of credits compared with Missouri and national averages, the article notes. She also charged some clients unusually high fees — in one case quoting $700 for preparation before ultimately charging a client $5,000 after falsifying the return. That same falsified filing reportedly secured the client a $22,000 refund, even though the person had initially owed the IRS more than $20,000…