On January 31, 2025, a federal judge sentenced Natoshia Lashawn Crawford to 30 months in prison for making false tax returns and assisting in the filing of false tax returns. This was announced by Acting United States Attorney Kevin Davidson and Special Agent in Charge Demetrius Hardeman with IRS Criminal Investigation’s Atlanta Field Office. Federal inmates are not eligible for parole.
According to her plea agreement and court records, from 2018 through 2022, Crawford owned and operated On Time Professional Tax Service, LLC, in Montgomery, Alabama. She prepared and filed federal income tax returns for clients during this period. In her plea agreement, Crawford admitted to including false information in tax returns filed on behalf of herself and others. This resulted in larger refunds than were entitled.
In one instance, Crawford reported an income of $23,116 on her 2020 tax return but later admitted to excluding other business income. This led to an underpayment to the IRS amounting to $32,867. Additionally, she acknowledged filing a false return for a client in 2019 that claimed a non-existent business loss of $90,171. Overall, the multiple false returns filed between 2017 and 2021 caused a total loss of $1,721,047.45 to the IRS. Besides the prison sentence, Crawford is required to pay restitution for these losses.
“For far too long, opportunistic tax return preparers like Ms. Crawford have viewed the IRS as a piggybank,” stated Acting United States Attorney Davidson. “As was the case here, preparers attempt to get larger refunds for themselves and their clients by putting false information on the tax returns they prepare."
“The sentence Natoshia Crawford received is an example of the expected outcome others could face should they willfully defraud the government by submitting false and inaccurate tax returns,” said Special Agent in Charge Hardeman.
IRS Criminal Investigation investigated this case with Assistant United States Attorney Megan A. Kirkpatrick prosecuting.
For additional guidance on such matters see the IRS fact sheet available on their website.