U.S. Attorney's Office, Missouri, Eastern, "Former St. Louis Tax Preparer Sentenced to 56 Months in Prison for Preparing False Tax Returns" (Sept. 30, 2026)

Summary

Press release of September 30, 2026 from the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Missouri, reporting that U.S. District Judge Joshua M. Divine sentenced a former St. Louis tax preparer to 56 months in prison and ordered her to repay $270,793. Her trial concluded July 1 with guilty verdicts on 16 counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false and fraudulent tax returns; the government's sentencing memo says she invented businesses and claimed fake Schedule C expenses, exploited a COVID-19 tax credit intended for those who were sick or caring for sick relatives, and fabricated fuel purchases, in one instance claiming a full-time liquor store cashier bought 40,000 gallons in a year. The falsified returns covered six taxpayers for tax years between 2020 and 2023, with eight more identified in the investigation and 37 civilly audited.

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ST. LOUIS – U.S. District Judge Joshua M. Divine on Wednesday sentenced a former tax preparer to 56 months in prison for preparing false tax returns and ordered her to repay $270,793.

Latasha L. Frison, 39, owned a tax preparation business in downtown St. Louis under various names including Taxed Rite. Evidence and testimony at her trial, which concluded July 1 with guilty verdicts on 16 counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of false and fraudulent tax returns, showed that Frison falsified those tax returns in multiple ways. She made up businesses out of thin air and claimed tens of thousands of dollars in fake business expenses on Schedule C forms, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow wrote in a sentencing memo. She “exploited a COVID-19 tax credit intended to provide tax relief to those who were sick or caring for loved ones sick during the pandemic.” She “fabricated ludicrous amounts of creditable gas purchases by her clients—in one instance, claiming that a full-time liquor store cashier purchased 40,000 gallons of fuel in a single year,” the memo says.

The trial showed that Frison falsified information on 16 tax returns for six taxpayers for tax years between 2020 and 2023, triggering hundreds of thousands of dollars in refunds to which they were not entitled. Eight additional returns were identified during the criminal investigation that contained similar falsehoods, and 37 more were civilly audited by the IRS and found to contain false information, according to court filings and statements in court Wednesday.

Clow told Judge Divine that “significant statistical aberrations” in Schedule C and tax credits that were similar to those that triggered the initial investigation surfaced in returns dating back to when Frison first opened her tax business in late 2017. Returns prepared by Frison included an unusually high percentage of credits as compared to state and national averages, Clow said.

Frison charged some of her clients exorbitant fees, the sentencing memo says. Frison told one client who owed the IRS over $20,000 that it would cost $700 to prepare her taxes, then charged $5,000 after falsifying the return and obtaining a tax refund of $22,000. In a four-year period, she received at least $240,000 in fees. She spent over $145,000 at St. Louis-area casinos, the memo says. At trial, Frison lied under oath when she blamed clients for the false information in the returns, the memo says.

“Stopping fraud against taxpayer funds and keeping the tax system fair are top priorities for IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI),” said Kansas City Field Office Special Agent in Charge William Steenson. “Latasha Frison operated a tax preparation business that profited by filing falsified information on her clients’ tax returns and caused thousands of dollars in refunds the clients were not entitled to. The tax loss to the Treasury and the tax nightmare created for the clients demands accountability. Through the partnership of IRS-CI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office, taxpayers now have justice.”

Frison lived in Cahokia at the time of her crimes and now lives in Texas.

The case was investigated by IRS - Criminal Investigation.

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