Louisiana Tax Preparer Sentenced and Ordered to Pay Over $500k in Restitution for Filing False Returns and Making False Statements

Louisiana – On November 16, 2022, U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans of the Eastern District of Louisiana announced that Kenisha R. Callahan, age 45, and a resident of Ponchatoula, Louisiana, was sentenced on November 9, 2022, to five years of probation and one year of home confinement by U.S. District Court Judge Ivan L.R. Lemelle after Callahan had pleaded guilty to one count of filing a false tax return, one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return and one count of making a false statement to the Department of Education.

Count one of the complaints says that Callahan, the owner of Callahan Tax Service, created and filed a bogus 2015 U.S. Individual Tax Return Form 1040, on which she omitted to record her earned income for the stated time period. Count two charges Callahan with assisting in the preparation and submission of a client's tax return in 2015, which falsely indicated to the IRS that the customer had a business and had a business loss for the 2014 tax year. Count three charges Callahan with financial aid fraud for falsely disclosing her 2015 income to the Department of Education while requesting for student loan forgiveness.

In addition to the term, Callahan was sentenced to repay the IRS $353,834 and the Department of Education $191,738 in obligatory restitution.

U.S. Attorney Evans praised the IRS-Criminal Investigation special agents and the Department of Education for their handling of the case. Assistant United States Attorney Edward J. Rivera prosecuted the case.