The owner of a metro Atlanta tax preparation service has been sentenced to four years, three months in federal prison for preparing and filing about $7 million in fraudulent returns.
Anita R. Ford, who was also known as Anita R. Dixon, owned and operated Georgia Peach Financial & Fast Tax Service, and filed the fraudulent returns over a five-year period.
“Ford prepared and electronically filed thousands of Form 1040 individual income tax returns with the IRS that intentionally misstated her clients’ income in order to generate fraudulent returns,” said Bob Page, spokesman for U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates.
“In particular, Ford made up fake side businesses with fake income and fake expenses,” Page said. “This had the effect of off-setting her clients’ income tax liability from their real salaries.”
In addition to the prison sentence, Ford, 50, of Jonesboro, was also ordered by U.S. District Judge Timothy C. Batten Sr. to pay restitution to the U.S. Treasury of nearly $6 million.
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