Texas Border Business
U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Texas
HOUSTON – A local woman has been ordered to federal prison for aiding or assisting in the preparation of false tax returns.
Jamie Nevid Wallace pleaded guilty March 27.
U.S. District Judge Alfred H. Bennett ordered Wallace to serve 14 months in federal prison to be immediately followed by one year of supervised release. At the hearing, the court heard how Wallace used fabricated expenses to defraud the IRS and attempted to conceal her involvement in the scheme. In handing down the sentence, the court noted Wallace’s prior federal fraud conviction in 2003, which should have served as a warning against further criminal conduct.
From 2017 to 2023, Wallace owned Donahue Tax Service and operated as a “ghost preparer” to conceal her involvement in the scheme. As such, she made it seem that clients were filing their own returns without the assistance of anyone else. Wallace was required to obtain and use a Provider Tax Identification Number on any returns she prepared but instead concealed her role by creating accounts for her clients using tax preparation software.
Wallace prepared false tax returns that included fraudulent Schedule A deductions and Schedule C business and education credits, which generated refunds her clients should not have received. She also charged fees for those returns.
As part of her plea, she admitted to filing a false 2021 income tax return that included $68,453 in false Schedule A deductions, $36,852 in false Schedule C losses for a business that did not exist, and a false education credit showing expenses supposedly paid to a local university. These false entries resulted in $18,075 in tax loss.
Wallace has admitted responsibility for $244,824 in losses to the IRS and has agreed to pay that amount in restitution.
Wallace was permitted to remain on bond and voluntarily surrender to a Federal Bureau of Prisons facility to be determined in the near future.
IRS Criminal Investigation conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brad Gray prosecuted the case.
The Department of Justice has created the National Fraud Enforcement Division. The core mission of the Fraud Division is to zealously investigate and prosecute those who steal or fraudulently misuse taxpayer dollars. Department of Justice efforts to combat fraud support President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within federal benefit programs.
Updated October 30, 2026
