Tax Preparer Gets 2 Years in Fraud
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A North Hollywood tax preparer has been sentenced to two years in prison for filing more than 100 false income tax returns involving at least $225,000 in inflated tax refunds, federal prosecutors said.
U.S. Atty. Lourdes Baird said Tanleen Mashfu, 24, was ordered to pay more than $75,000 in restitution to federal and state tax collection agencies. He also must serve three years probation and pay the costs of his imprisonment.
Baird said Mashfu admitted using his business, called Instant Tax Refund, to falsify clients’ tax returns so they could claim large refunds.
Instead of turning over the inflated refunds to his clients, however, Mashfu pocketed them himself, Baird said.
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