New York Tax Return Preparer Sentenced to Prison | WPN World People News

A Bay Shore, on November 15, New York tax return preparer was sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, for aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return for others, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Caroline D. Ciraolo, head of the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

According to court documents, Thelma Rodriguez-Garden, 55, owned and operated Garden Insurance Agency Corporation, a tax return preparation business in Suffolk county. For tax years 2008 through 2011, Rodriguez-Garden prepared false individual income tax returns that included, among other falsities, grossly inflated or wholly fictitious itemized deductions for unreimbursed employee expenses, causing a loss to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of at least $107,459. Rodriguez-Garden pleaded guilty to the charges on March 14.

In addition to the prison term imposed by U.S. District Judge Joseph F. Bianco, Rodriguez-Garden was also ordered to serve one year of supervised release and to pay $107,459 in restitution to the IRS.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice