LAPLACE – A Paulina tax preparer was sentenced for making false statements on tax returns in the United States District Court on Thursday.
Laura A. Diggs, 41, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Carl J. Barbier to five years probation, with the first six months to be served in home confinement, for one count of false statements on tax returns and one count of assisting in the preparation of false tax documents, announced U.S. Attorney Dana J. Boente. Barbier also imposed a $6,000 fine and a $200 special assessment. Diggs has made full restitution of $343,526.00 to the Internal Revenue Service.
According to court documents, Diggs was engaged in the business of preparing and filing income tax returns at her business, Diggs Tax Service, which was located in Luling, from approximately 2003 through the present. From 2007 through 2009, according to court documents, Diggs prepared and filed for her customers false income tax returns, which contained false Schedule A deductions, resulting in inflated refunds for her customers to which they were not entitled.
Additionally, in the years 2007, 2008 and 2009, Diggs signed her own tax returns that falsely under-reported the business income she had received. In total, Diggs failed to report approximately $766,761 in gross income, to which there is a total tax liability of $210,233.
The case was investigated by agents from the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division.The case was prosecuted by Assistant U. S. Attorney Matt Chester.