N.J. Tax Preparer Pleads Guilty to Tax Charges

A New Jersey tax preparer pleaded guilty Monday to preparing false tax returns.

Alicia Jones, 47, was charged in a 25-count indictment in February (see N.J. Tax Preparer Arraigned on Tax Charges). She pled guilty Monday , before Judge Dennis Cavanaugh in a Newark, N.J., federal court to one count of the indictment charging her with aiding in the preparation of false tax returns.  Jones owned a business called Rightchoice Financial and Insurance Services and was accused of preparing tax returns for her clients that included fabricated and inflated itemized deductions, education expenses and false filing statuses from 2006 through 2009.

Jones admitted that she fabricated education credits as well as various Schedule A deductions on clients’ tax returns.  She also admitted that the total tax loss she caused to the government was between $30,000 and $80,000.

She faces up to three years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 when she is sentenced on January 27. While Jones only pleaded guilty to one count of the indictment, the full amount of the tax loss admitted could come into play for her sentencing, according to an IRS spokesman.