March 29, 2024

Tax preparer in fraud case told to pay restitution to IRS

SIOUX CITY — A northwest Iowa tax preparer indicted in a fraud case has been ordered to pay more than $61,000 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.

Federal prosecutors say 56-year-old Toui Lo of Storm Lake, was sentenced Tuesday in Sioux City. She was given four years of probation and fined $3,000, in addition to the restitution. She’d pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and assisting the preparation and filing of a false and fraudulent tax return.

Lo said in her plea agreement that 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 also admitted filing several other false tax returns between 2009 and 2013.