Two New York City-based tax preparers have been indicted for filing false tax returns.
Dolores Tejada and Norma Jimenez ran separate businesses offering tax preparation services in Manhattan, according to a spokesman for the Internal Revenue Service. Tejada’s business operated under the name DT Multiservices. Jimenez operated a business under the names Coastland Insurance and Coastland Tax Service from approximately 2006 through 2010, preparing hundreds of tax returns for her clients as well as clients of DT Multiservices.
Both Tejada and Jimenez conspired to file false tax returns from 2007 through 2011, according to the IRS. Tejada allegedly offered to sell clients the personal identification information of others so they could falsely claim dependents on their tax returns. In exchange for the sale and use of the personal identification on their returns, Tejada allegedly would charge clients a fee and then bring their tax information, including the personal identification of others, to Jimenez.
The IRS has accused Jimenez of knowing that she falsely claimed dependents on her clients’ returns when her clients had no such dependents, and using the information to falsely claim head-of-household status and the Earned Income Tax Credit, to which the clients allegedly were not entitled.
The IRS also accused the pair of conspiring to file tax returns without a client’s knowledge or consent, sending tax refunds stemming from the fraudulent tax returns to several mailboxes in a UPS store in Manhattan.
The pair appeared before Judge Colleen McMahon in the Manhattan Federal Courthouse and pled not guilty. They were released on their own recognizance. Their next court appearance is scheduled for March. Each faces up to three years in prison and a $100,000 fine per count.
