Somerville Tax Preparer Sentenced to More Than One Year in Prison for False Tax Return Scheme

BOSTON – A Somerville man was sentenced today in federal court in Boston on charges that he prepared false tax returns in the names of taxpayers.

Yves Isidor, 68, was sentenced by U.S. Senior District Court Judge William G. Young to 18 months in prison, to be followed by one year of supervised release. Isidor has also been barred from preparing tax returns for others. Following a six-day jury trial in November 2024, Isidor was convicted of five counts of filing false tax returns.  

The evidence at trial established that from at least 2012 through 2020, Isidor operated a tax preparation business under the name Tax and Realty Pro to file more than 1,500 tax returns in the names of clients, charging between $100 to $500 per return. Isidor added false information to tax returns to claim deductions for fictitious medical and dental expenses, gifts to charities and unreimbursed employee business expenses. The false returns resulted in taxpayers receiving tax refunds to which they were not entitled or paying lower taxes than they owed. Taxpayers testified at trial that Isidor had never discussed the false items with them, and they were not aware he had inserted them into their returns. An undercover agent also testified regarding a meeting recorded by video in which the agent provided Isidor information that should have resulted in income taxes owed, but Isidor created a false return that would result in a substantial fraudulent refund. Isidor’s fraudulent operation caused between $250,000 and $500,000 in loss in income taxes owed to the Internal Revenue Service.

United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Thomas Demeo, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Boston Field Office; and Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Department of Justice Tax Division made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Victor A. Wild of the U.S. Attorney’s Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit and Christina M. Grimes, Trial Attorney for the Justice Department’s Tax Division prosecuted the case.