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BOSTON (WBZ NewsRadio) — An employee at the IRS Service Center in Andover has been charged with filing nearly 600 false tax returns for herself and others.
On Tuesday, federal prosecutors in Boston brought charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft against 44-year-old Jennifer True of Lawrence who has been employed by the IRS for more than 22 years. According to court documents she works as a lead representative, assisting team members in answering complex taxpayer questions.
The US Attorney's Office for Massachusetts said during her career, True had been trained in tax law, ethics, information protection and disclosure, and privacy.
Court documents reveal that True allegedly filed 590 false claims between 2012-2017 for items like retirement benefits, medical expenses or childcare benefits for which she received between $40 and $100 per return. That would violate IRS rules that state employees are prohibited from "engaging in the preparation of tax returns for compensation, gift, or favor."
A number of taxpayers told investigators that they had not told True any false information, and that they had no knowledge of her - including information on the returns she was preparing. One of the returns claiming false deductions was allegedly amended from three years prior.
True now faces up to 20 years in prison with three years of supervised release, and up to $250,000 in fines for the wire fraud charge. She could face an additional $250,000 fine for the charge of Aggravated identity theft.
WBZ NewsRadio's Karyn Regal (@Karynregal) reports
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