Tax worker charged with filing fake returns, keeping refunds

February 26, 2021 at 2:00 p.m. | Updated February 26, 2021 at 11:46 a.m.

by Associated Press

FILE - This Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, file photo shows part of a 1040 federal tax form printed from the Internal Revenue Service website, in Zelienople, Pa. Tax filing season will start a bit later and look a bit different this year. That's because the pandemic that defined 2020 has seeped into tax time as well. If you worked from home, received a relief payment, took on some gig work or filed unemployment benefits _ or someone filed a fake claim in your name _ there are things you need to be aware of. Likewise if you normally receive certain tax credits. The IRS will begin accepting tax returns on Feb. 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)
FILE - This Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019, file photo shows part of a 1040 federal tax form printed from the Internal Revenue Service website, in Zelienople, Pa. Tax filing season will start a bit later and look a bit different this year. That's because the pandemic that defined 2020 has seeped into tax time as well. If you worked from home, received a relief payment, took on some gig work or filed unemployment benefits _ or someone filed a fake claim in your name _ there are things you need to be aware of. Likewise if you normally receive certain tax credits. The IRS will begin accepting tax returns on Feb. 12, 2021. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) -- A Tennessee tax examiner for the Internal Revenue Service has been charged with filing false returns and keeping parts of tax refunds for herself.

The U.S. attorney's office in Memphis said Thursday that Linda Williams, 52, prepared fake tax returns for friends and relatives that claimed more than $500,000 in false tax deductions to inflate their refunds.

Williams would then take a portion of the refunds and transfer the money to her personal bank account, prosecutors said. The deductions were related to medical expenses, charitable contributions and business expenses, prosecutors said.

"Many of these citizens were unaware of the false deductions discovered on their tax returns," the U.S. attorney's office said in a news release.

Williams was indicted for filing 10 false tax returns. She faces up to three years in prison if convicted. It was not immediately clear in Williams had a lawyer to comment on her behalf Thursday.

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