Date: January 18, 2022 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov Greensboro, NC — Two Durham, North Carolina, tax preparers have pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States in connection with a scheme that involved preparing and filing false tax returns. According to court documents, Whitney Danielle Sales owned and operated Tax Time Solutions, LLC, a tax preparation business in Durham, North Carolina from 2014 to 2018. During that period, Sales, and another return preparer, Janelle Marie Corley, prepared fraudulent returns for clients. Returns prepared by the conspirators claimed false education credits or manipulated the clients' income to qualify for larger earned income tax credits. In addition to their preparation of false client returns, Sales and Corley also filed false personal income tax returns. Sales and Corley intended to cause a tax loss of over $1.5 million. Sales pleaded guilty to Count One of the Indictment before Senior United States District Court Judge N. Carlton Tilley, Jr., on January 5, 2022. Corley pleaded guilty to the same count before Judge Tilley on January 13, 2022. Sales is scheduled to be sentenced on May 19, 2022, and Corley is scheduled to be sentenced on May 26, 2022. Sales and Corley each face a maximum sentence of five years in prison for the conspiracy, as well as a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties. U.S. Attorney Sandra J. Hairston for the Middle District of North Carolina made the announcement. IRS-Criminal Investigation is investigating the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ashley Waid of the Middle District of North Carolina is prosecuting the case.
