FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
Massachusetts Tax Return Preparer and Business Owner Pleads Guilty to Tax Fraud
A tax return preparer in Worcester and Hyde Park, Massachusetts, pleaded guilty today in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts to two counts of filing false claims with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Department of Justice announced today.
Yaw Aboagye-Marfo, 42, of Worcester and Hyde Park, Massachusetts, was charged in a superseding indictment in August 2014 with filing false tax returns that claimed refunds to which clients were not entitled. According to the indictment, Aboagye-Marfo also filed false tax returns on his own behalf that claimed refunds from the IRS to which he was not entitled.
According to the indictment, Aboagye-Marfo owned and operated People’s Choice Tax Service and National Taxpert, located in Worcester and Hyde Park, respectively. Aboagye-Marfo used other individuals to recruit taxpayers for their personal identifying and related information so that he could use the information to file false tax returns on their behalf. In some cases, Aboagye-Marfo obtained only the personal identifying information of individual taxpayers and filed tax returns that claimed false Schedule C businesses, regardless of the individual’s income or employment status, qualifying that individual for large tax refunds. In some instances, Aboagye-Marfo also reported false dependents on the tax returns. Aboagye-Marfo charged a fee for his services and he also claimed a portion of the false tax refund proceeds for himself.
Sentencing is scheduled for May 15 before U.S. District Court Judge George A. O’Toole. Aboabye-Marfo faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine for each count.
This case was investigated by the special agents of IRS - Criminal Investigation. Trial Attorney Jeffrey B. Bender and Assistant Chief Karen Kelly of the Justice Department’s Tax Division are prosecuting the case.
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