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Press Release

Alabama Tax Preparer Pleads Guilty to Filing False Tax Returns

For Immediate Release
Office of Public Affairs

A Birmingham, Alabama, tax return preparer pleaded guilty to aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard E. Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama Prim F. Escalona.

According to documents and information provided to the court, Shuntan Rue owned and operated a tax return preparation business in the Birmingham, Alabama, area known as Rue Tax Service. Between 2013 and 2016, Rue prepared and filed false tax returns for her clients by claiming education credits and itemized deductions, among other items, to which her clients were not entitled. As a result of these false tax returns, Rue caused her clients to underpay their income taxes. In addition, Rue claimed similar false items on her own 2012 and 2013 federal income tax returns. Rue conduct caused a loss to the IRS of more than $250,000.

U.S. District Senior Judge Karon O. Bowdre scheduled sentencing for Feb. 3, 2021. Rue faces a statutory maximum sentence of three 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 Escalona thanked special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, Trial Attorneys Kevin Schneider, Jessica Kraft, and Michael Jones of the Tax Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Posey, who are prosecuting the case.

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

Updated October 15, 2020

Topics
Financial Fraud
Tax
Press Release Number: 20-1110