St. Louis tax preparer pleads guilty to tax fraud

ST. LOUIS – Tiffany McAllister, 44, of St. Louis, Missouri, pleaded guilty to three counts of tax fraud. McAllister appeared, today, before United States District Court Judge Ronnie L. White.

McAllister began operating a tax preparation service in 2009 and continued the business through the 2019 tax year.

During that period, McAllister registered two companies with the Missouri Secretary of State and obtained employer identification numbers for them through the Internal Revenue Service even though she never transacted business nor employed anyone through either company. Nevertheless, between January 1, 2014 and December 31, 2016, McAllister prepared fraudulent tax returns claiming that she and some of her clients received wages and had taxes withheld with respect to the fictitious companies.

McAllister also knowingly prepared tax returns for clients that fraudulently claimed wages and withholdings from other fictitious businesses, self-employment business losses, and educational expenses in order to increase the federal tax refunds her clients obtained. 

An investigation by the Internal Revenue Service revealed McAllister received payment for assisting in the fraudulent preparation of 39 tax returns for the tax years of 2014 through 2017. 

McAllister admits her false representations for the tax years of 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 created tax losses to the Internal Revenue Service in the amount of $920,854.

Judge White has set sentencing for June 30, 2021 at 11:00 a.m.

“Today, Ms. McAllister admitted to preparing and submitting fraudulent returns to the IRS where she blatantly ignored the tax laws,” said David Talcott, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the IRS Criminal Investigation division in the St. Louis Field Office. “IRS CI Special Agents will continue to ensure that all tax preparers and others in the tax preparer profession adhere to professional standards and follow the law.”

The Internal Revenue Service investigated the case. Assistant United States Attorney Tracy Berry is handling the case.