SIOUX CITY – A woman who formerly operated her own tax return preparation business and prepared and filed fraudulent federal tax returns was sentenced to four years’ probation and ordered to pay a fine and restitution in federal court recently.
Toui Lo, age 56, from Storm Lake, received the sentence after a April 3, 2017, guilty plea to one count of aiding and assisting the preparation and filing of a false and fraudulent tax return.
In a plea agreement, Lo, who operated a tax return preparation business in Storm Lake, admitted she prepared and filed a false tax return on behalf of a client, fraudulently increasing the amount of the client’s refund by falsely claiming business expenses and various itemized deductions. Lo further admitted she filed multiple other similarly false tax returns between 2009 and 2013. Finally, at sentencing, Lo admitted that the false and fraudulent tax returns she prepared and filed resulted in more than $60,000 in unwarranted refunds for her clients.
Lo was sentenced in Sioux City by United States District Court Chief Judge Leonard T. Strand. Lo was sentenced to four years’ probation and fined $3,000. A special assessment of $100 was imposed, and she was ordered to make $61,137 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Anthony Morfitt and investigated by Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division.
