Florence tax preparer sentenced on fraud charges

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A Florence tax preparer has been sentenced to federal prison after pleading guilty to federal charges related to preparing and filing false income tax returns.

Donna Faye Shird, 41, of Florence, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison, followed by three years of court-ordered supervision. Shird, who operated Donna’s Income Tax Service, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to aid in the preparation and filing of false federal income tax returns, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Donna and Felicia Shird pleaded guilty in December.

Evidence presented at the plea hearing established that from 2012 to 2017, Shird and co-defendant Felicia Shird, 42, routinely added fictitious information to the personal tax returns of customers to artificially increase the amount of tax refunds received from the IRS. Investigators determined the customers provided the Shirds with the correct information for their income tax returns and the Shirds falsely claimed deductions, credits, exemptions and other tax benefits to which the customers were not entitled.

According to the release, the U.S. government suffered “a significant loss of tax revenue.”