CINCINNATI — A former IRS agent was sentenced to 30 months in prison and ordered to pay $191,007 in restitution to the IRS after pleading guilty to charges of fraud and identity theft in November.
According to a press release from the IRS, Frederick Louis, of Cincinnati, previously worked as a tax examiner for the agency. During his time with the IRS, he illegally prepared tax returns using other people's PINs, but did not sign or declare that he was filling out those forms on their behalf.
He was charged with aiding or assisting in the preparation of a false return and aggravated identity theft.
The fraudulent returns spanned nearly five years, the IRS said.
"From at least January 2016 and continuing at through at least March 2021, Louis prepared tax returns with false expenses, deductions, dependents and filing statuses to fraudulently generate tax refunds to which his clients were not entitled," reads a press release from the IRS.
Louis gave false information in order to illegally increase the amount of refunds issued for the returns.
In one example given by the IRS, Louis submitted a tax return in 2018 using his client's PIN. In that case, he falsely claimed that client had a dependent that entitled them to an Earned Income Tax Credit, despite knowing that wasn't true, the IRS said.
In total, the IRS said it believes Louis filed over 100 fraudulent tax returns in five years. Those returns resulted in a total of $191,007 being issued to people through fraudulent and inaccurate tax return forms, the IRS said.
Louis was sentenced Tuesday by Senior U.S. District Judge Susan J. Dlott. Louis was also sentenced to one year of supervised release after he serves his 30-month prison sentence.
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