Minden Tax Preparer Going to Jail and Forced to Pay $550,000 Fine

It's been increasingly true over the years. The only two certainties in life are death and taxes.

You can probably add to that statement that there's a certainty that if you don't pay your share of taxes, the IRS is much like Liam Neeson's character in the movie Taken. They have a very particular set of skills. Skills that make them a nightmare for people like me and you. They will find you.

You just never, ever want to cheat on your taxes. And certainly not to the tune of reporting less than half of your earnings. It just doesn't prove prudent to your future.

Deborah Cooksey of Minden learned that lesson the hard way this past Friday, February 11, when she was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to pay just short of $550,000 in restitution.

In an article from the Associated Press we learn that Cooksey, of Cooksey's Tax and Notary Services, LLC, was found guilty of falsifying her own 2013 tax return when she reported less than 40% of her income. It is reported that she plead guilty to reporting an income of $522,662 in 2013, when, in actuality, her income was more than $1.3 million.

It's also reported that Cooksey agreed that "from now on, she will never prepare or help with anyone else’s tax returns or be associated with a tax preparation or teach anyone how to prepare federal tax returns."