Long Island, N.Y., Tax Return Preparer Pleads Guilty

WASHINGTON - Ricardo A. Nunez of Lindenhurst, N.Y., pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States and filing a false tax return, the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

According to court documents, Nunez owned and operated a tax preparation business called Monstruo Tax Service in Copiague, N.Y. Nunez prepared customers’ tax returns with fraudulent deductions, including fraudulent medical and dental expenses, personal property taxes, gifts to charity, and unreimbursed job expenses. The fraudulent tax returns generated inflated tax refunds for Nunez’s customers, which in turn attracted more customers and tax preparation fees. Additionally, according to court documents, Nunez failed to report $69,000 in income on his own tax return for 2005.

No sentencing date was scheduled. Nunez faces a maximum sentence of eight years in prison and a maximum fine of $500,000.

Acting Assistant Attorney General John A. DiCicco and Loretta Lynch, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, commended the investigative efforts of the IRS agents involved in this case, as well as Tax Division Trial Attorneys Mark Kotila and Jeffrey L. Shih, who prosecuted the case.

More information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division and its enforcement efforts is available at www.usdoj.gov/tax.