Accountant Convicted in Tax Evasion Case
An accountant was convicted of committing state income-tax fraud and was ordered to pay $25,000 restitution, according to officials from the state’s Franchise Tax Board.
Granada Hills resident Aran Dokovna, 51, a certified public accountant and partner in a Van Nuys accounting firm, submitted false Internal Revenue Service audit documents on behalf of a client, said Denise Quade, a tax board spokesperson. Dokovna was convicted Friday.
The documents resulted in a fraudulent refund of about $9,000, Quade said. Dokovna, who has been certified in California since 1969, pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion.
When a taxpayer is audited by the IRS, the results are forwarded to the state Franchise Tax Board, officials said. Currently, the state board has 88 refund fraud cases either under investigation or at various stages of adjudication. Those cases total nearly $4.5 million in fraudulent claims, Quade said.
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