Novato Landscaper Pleads Guilty To Filing A False Tax Return

SAN FRANCISCO – Marina Zuk pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return announced United States Attorney Brian J. Stretch and Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation, Special Agent in Charge Michael T. Batdorf.

According to the plea agreement, during 2008 through 2010, Zuk, 57, of Novato, Calif., owned and operated Growing Works, a landscaping and yard maintenance business. For those years, Zuk admitted that she filed false federal income tax returns with the IRS by willfully underreporting the gross receipts she received from the operation of her business.  She also did not report interest income that she received from a nominee bank account she maintained in the name of her deceased grandmother. For the years 2008, 2009 and 2010, Zuk underreported gross receipts from Growing Works in the amounts of $350,861.51, $409,976.19 and $287,073.40, respectively.

Zuk was charged on April 7, 2015, with three counts of filing a false tax return.  Zuk is scheduled to be sentenced on February 6, 2017, before the Honorable Thelton E. Henderson, U.S. District Judge.   

The maximum sentence for filing a false tax return, in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1), is three years in prison and a fine of $250,000.  However, any sentence following conviction will be imposed by the court only after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553. 

Assistant U.S. Attorney José A. Olivera is prosecuting the case.  The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation.