Tax return preparer sentenced to prison for filing false returns

NEW HAVEN, CT (WFSB) - A woman who worked as a tax return preparer was sentenced for making changes to her clients’ tax returns.

Keyante Paul, 34, of Florida, was sentenced to 12 months and a day of imprisonment, Connecticut’s U.S. states attorney announced on Tuesday.

The sentence will be followed by one year of supervised release.

Paul was found guilty of preparing false tax returns for a number of her clients.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Paul, through her business Keys Tax Services, worked as a tax return preparer. She traveled to the Norwich area for part of the year to prepare returns for Connecticut clients.

The documents said that for several years, Paul prepared numerous federal tax returns for clients that included false income “adjustments” that reduced taxpayers’ reported adjusted gross income or false expenses and losses in connection with sole proprietorship businesses that clients did not operate.

Paul’s criminal conduct caused losses totaling more than $550,000 to the U.S. Treasury and the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services, court officials said.

She was arrested on June 16, 2022.

On Feb. 23, 2023, she pleaded guilty to aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false income tax return.

Restitution will be determined after additional court proceedings.