Agawam Tax Preparer Sentenced to Prison for Filing False Tax Returns

BOSTON – An Agawam tax preparer was sentenced on Sept. 5, 2024 in federal court in Boston for filing false tax returns.

Colleen Gruska, 66, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Julia E. Kobick to two months in prison followed by 12 months of supervised release with the first six months to be served in home confinement and to ordered pay $261,102 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.  In January 2024, Gruska pleaded guilty to four counts of filing false tax returns.

Over the course of a decade, Gruska used her tax preparation service to defraud the United States by filing dozens of false tax returns for herself, her relatives, and others. In each of the tax returns, she reported business losses that were either dramatically overstated or were for businesses that did not even exist, resulting in little or no federal income tax owed by the taxpayer. For example, in her own filings, she reported $189,000 in expenses over four years for a house and yard cleaning business despite there being no actual expenses, enabling her to avoid paying $36,079 in taxes. Similarly, for a relative, she filed false tax returns that claimed a non-existent soccer coaching business with expenses totaling $233,561, thus enabling this person to avoid paying $39,599 in taxes. In total, Gruska caused a loss to the IRS of $261,102.
    
Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy and Harry Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Boston Field Office made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven H. Breslow of the Springfield Branch Office prosecuted the case.