New York Tax Return Preparer Pleads Guilty to Preparing False Tax Returns

A Brooklyn, New York, tax return preparer pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York to two counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false income tax returns, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo of the Justice Department’s Tax Division. 

According to the indictment, Awilda Rosario owned and operated Edujas Multiservices Corporation, a tax preparation business located in Brooklyn.  She prepared false federal individual income tax returns for clients for tax years 2008 through 2013.  Rosario attached false schedules to the returns that reported business losses that the clients did not incur and reported inflated or fictitious deductions.  She also attached forms claiming fictitious education and fuel tax credits that the clients were not entitled to receive.

The indictment further alleges that after the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) revoked the electronic filing identification number (EFIN) for Edujas Multiservices Corporation, Rosario obtained at least two different EFINs and continued to prepare and submit false tax returns for her clients, listing a different paid tax return preparer and tax preparation firm.

Rosario faces a statutory maximum sentence of three years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000 for each count of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false income tax returns.  Rosario’s sentencing is set for Jan. 8, 2016.

Acting Assistant Attorney General Ciraolo commended the special agents of IRS-Criminal Investigation, who investigated the case, and Assistant Chief Jorge Almonte and Trial Attorney Shawn T. Noud of the Tax Division, who are prosecuting the case.