North Carolina Return Preparer Pleads Guilty in Tax Fraud Scheme

A Rocky Mount, North Carolina, tax return preparer pleaded guilty today to conspiring to defraud the United States, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Robert J. Higdon, Jr. for the Eastern District of North Carolina.

According to court documents and statements made in court, between 2009 and 2017, Adrienne Williams owned and operated Ultimate Tax Service, a return preparation business, which had an office in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Williams trained her employees on various ways to prepare false tax returns, including by claiming false federal income tax withholdings. In all, the false returns prepared and filed by Williams and her employees on behalf of clients sought more than $3.5 million in inflated refunds.

Sentencing is scheduled before U.S. District Court Judge Terrence W. Boyle. At sentencing, Williams faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison. She also faces a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman and U.S. Attorney Higdon, Jr. commended special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Trial Attorney Michael L. Jones and Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan B. Menzer, who are prosecuting the case.

Additional information about the Tax Division and its enforcement efforts may be found on the division’s website.