Milwaukee woman sentenced for preparing, filing false tax returns

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A Milwaukee woman has been sentenced for preparing and filing false tax returns.

Karen Tompkins was sentenced to one year and one day in prison. She was also ordered to pay $384,528 in restitution.

According to the Department of Justice, Tompkins and her co-conspirators were employed as tax return preparers at a branch of Liberty Tax Services, located at 3929 N. Humboldt Boulevard in Milwaukee.

As tax return preparers, the conspirators allegedly aided, assisted, counseled, and advised in the preparation and filing of federal income tax returns.

Tompkins was the office manager of that branch, and she and her co-conspirators artificially inflated tax filer’s claimed income, typically by inventing Schedule C business income for non-existent business, such as "hair braiding" or "dancing" businesses.

They also claimed false W-2 income and Additional Child Tax Credits to which the filers were not entitled. This caused the IRS to pay out larger tax refunds than it otherwise would have. In return for these inflated tax refunds, Tompkins and her co-conspirators received kickbacks.