Andover IRS Center Employee Pleads Guilty To False Tax FIlings

ANDOVER, MA — A former employee of Andover's IRS Service Center pleaded guilty Wednesday to aiding and assisting the preparation and filing of at least 70 false tax returns.

Jennifer Beth True, 44, of Lawrence, was arrested in January. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 6, 2021.

True worked at the IRS for over 22 years. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, she filed over 500 tax returns for herself and others from 2012 to 2018, in violation of IRS rules prohibiting employees from "engaging in the preparation of tax returns for compensation, gift, or favor.”

True admitted to preparing or assisting with and filing at least 70 false income tax returns.

"As a result of the false deductions claimed on the returns, the tax obligations of True and those individuals whose false returns she prepared was reduced," according to the news release.

The release notes that True was "trained in tax law, ethics, information protection and disclosure, privacy, identity theft and identity protection" as part of her employment.

True pleaded guilty to four counts of aiding and assisting the filing of a false tax return and four counts of filing a fraudulent tax return by an employee of the United States. The first charge can result in a sentence of up to three years in prison; the second up to five years in prison.

Christopher Huffaker can be reached at 412-265-8353 or chris.huffaker@patch.com.