San Joaquin County Tax Preparer Pleads Guilty To Preparing Fraudulent Tax Returns

FRESNO, Calif. —Sarad Chand, 62, of Ripon, pleaded guilty today to aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false income tax return, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced. Chand also agreed to entry of a permanent injunction precluding him from preparing or filing federal tax returns for anyone other than himself.

According to court documents, Chand prepared tax returns from an office in Ripon under the name S. Chand Tax & Accounting Service Inc. He assisted his clients to obtain large tax refunds by falsifying deductions and credits on the returns. The false tax returns caused the government to lose $38,932 in tax revenues over a period of more than four years.

This case is the product of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation. Assistant United States Attorneys Mark J. McKeon and Megan Richards are prosecuting the case.

Chand is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Lawrence J. O'Neill on June 16, 2014. Chand faces a maximum statutory penalty of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.