A tax preparer pleaded guilty in a New Jersey federal court to preparing false income tax returns after he was caught by an undercover IRS agent posing as a client.
Carlo St. Jean, a 40-year old tax preparer who operated a tax preparation practice as part of a travel and vacation timeshare business, entered a guilty plea Thursday before U.S. District Judge Stanley R. Chesler in Newark, N.J.
Between 2003 and 2006, St. Jean owned a business called Grand Travel Inc. Discount Timeshare in which he prepared at least six tax returns, including one for an undercover IRS agent. According to prosecutors, St. Jean advised some of his clients to claim fabricated and inflated Schedule A deductions for medical and dental expenses, charitable contributions, and unreimbursed employee expenses so they could receive larger refunds from the IRS. The deductions allegedly caused a tax loss to the government of between $30,000 and $80,000.
St. Jean faces up to three years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each of the seven counts to which he pleaded guilty. He is scheduled to be sentenced in October.
