Louisiana Tax Service Owner Pleads Guilty to Creating and Filing False Tax Returns

Louisiana – On September 28, 2022, United States Attorney Ronald C. Gathe, Jr. announced that Lakeisha Grayer, age 41, of Denham Springs, Louisiana, pled guilty before U.S. District Judge John W. deGravelles to making and subscribing false tax returns.

Grayer, according to admissions made at her plea, owned and operated Genesis Tax Service in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Grayer produced and electronically submitted federal income tax returns for approximately 950 taxpayers throughout the tax years 2015, 2016, and 2017. She charged her clients a fee for preparing and filing their tax returns.

Grayer declared her revenue from Genesis Tax Service on a Schedule C form connected to her personal income tax return, where she also disclosed the gross receipts of her firm. Grayer reported significantly less than the actual amount of gross receipts to the IRS on her Schedule C filings for each of the years stated in the indictment. Grayer deliberately underreported her gross receipts for tax years 2018, 2019, and 2020, in addition to the offenses alleged in the indictment.

For tax years 2015 through 2020, the total sum of all known tax losses exceeds $180,000.

The Internal Revenue Service investigated the case, which is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Harley Ferguson.