Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
September 28, 2023

Your Naughty Tax Preparer of the Day

Yes, busy season sucks. But getting sentenced to nearly three years in federal prison during busy season sucks way more. Still, I don’t think any of our friends on Tax Twitter are going to feel sorry for Nikia Tull of Norfolk, VA, who was recently sentenced to 33 months in the pokey for wire fraud and preparing more than 30 fraudulent income tax returns.

So sayeth the Justice Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of Virginia:

According to court documents and the evidence presented at trial, Nikia Tull, 44, was the co-owner, operator, and manager of YT Phoenix Enterprises, Inc., aka Phoenix Financial Tax Service, a tax preparation service based in Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, and Suffolk. Between 2014 and 2018, Tull willfully participated in preparing and submitting 33 federal income tax returns to the IRS containing numerous false and fraudulent items. In 2019, Tull continued her fraud by submitting forged and fraudulently altered bank statements to a private lending company in support of loan applications for $70,000.

According to court documents, Tull included a variety of false and fraudulent items on the income tax returns of her clients without their knowledge or consent. Some of the fraudulent items Tull included were residential energy credits, unreimbursed employee expenses, charitable contributions, and business losses. Tull charged her clients based on the number of separate forms filed with each return, so she was able to collect more fees for herself by including the false items and amounts. As a result of Tull’s fraudulent conduct, the IRS suffered a total loss of approximately $230,000.

In addition to defrauding the IRS, Tull also devised a wire fraud scheme aimed at a small business lender in which she submitted materially false and fraudulently altered bank statements in support of online applications for loans of $20,000 and $50,000 for her business.

After a seven-day trial, a federal jury convicted Tull on November 12, 2020 on five counts of wire fraud and 33 counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false and fraudulent income tax returns.

Tull also was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $162,460.

Latest Accounting Jobs--Apply Now:

Have something to add to this story? Give us a shout by email, Twitter, or text/call the tipline at 202-505-8885. As always, all tips are anonymous.

Related articles

Blue and yellow EY signage at entrance to EY office in Canary Wharf. It is UK professional services company

EY’s Work on This One Bank Project Was So Bad They Had to Refund the Client

Apologies in advance to that one guy in the comments who always accuses us of being mean to EY for no reason. Not our fault they end up in the headlines for stuff worth making fun of. It appears the ever talkative “people familiar with the matter” blabbed recently to Financial Times about an EY […]

Golden retriever puppy looking guilty from his punishment

BDO USA and Two of Its Audit Partners Got in Trouble and It’s Gonna Cost Them $2 Million and Change

Fresh off the PCAOB’s published naughty list, BDO USA and partners Kevin Olvera and Michael Musick got sent to the punishment corner for violations of PCAOB rules and audit standards in connection with the audit of AAC Holdings, Inc. (“AAC”) for 2017. Specifically, audit partner Olvera failed to properly evaluate three significant estimates that AAC […]