2 years for tax preparer who falsified her own tax return

SHREVEPORT, La. (AP) — A woman who owned a Louisiana tax preparation company has been sentenced to two years in prison for falsifying her own tax return by reporting less than 40% of her income in 2013.

Deborah Cooksey, 56, of Minden also was ordered at her sentencing Friday to pay nearly $550,000 restitution , U.S. Attorney Brandon Brown of Shreveport said in a news release.

And she agreed that from now on, she will never prepare or help with anyone else’s tax returns or be associated with a tax preparation or teach anyone how to prepare federal tax returns.

Brown said Cooksey reported $522,662 in gross receipts and income at Cooksey’s Tax and Notary Services, LLC for 2013, when they totaled more than $1.3 million.

She was indicted in March 2021 and pleaded guilty that September.