Date: December 12, 2024 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov LOS ANGELES — A Marina del Rey woman has been sentenced to 41 months in federal prison for preparing and filing false tax returns for her clients and for not reporting her income generated from this complex, multi-year scheme, IRS Criminal Investigation announced today. Lidiya Gessese was sentenced Wednesday by United States District Judge Percy Anderson, who also ordered her to pay $1,096,034.01 to the IRS and $53,526.95 to her other victims. Gessese pleaded guilty on April 1 to one count of wire fraud. Gessese owned and operated Tax We R / Tax R Us and Insurance Services from 2013 through 2019 and would charge clients between $300 and $800 to prepare tax returns. Gessese would then prepare tax returns that included claims to deductions and credits she knew her clients were not entitled to. These claims included falsely claiming dependents, earned income credits, American Opportunity Credit, child tax credits, business deductions, education expenses, and/or unreimbursed employee business expenses. The illegitimate claims led to approximately $1,135,554.64issued by the IRS for tax years 2010 through 2018. To further defraud the IRS, Gessese failed to report, or underreported, her own income generated by Tax We R / Tax R Us and Insurance Services from 2010 through 2018, some of which included improperly diverted funds from her clients’ inflated or fraudulent refunds, causing a tax loss of $488,276.00. “People trust their tax preparers to file accurate and truthful tax returns on their behalf to help ensure they are meeting their tax obligations,” said Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher, IRS Criminal Investigation, Los Angeles Field Office. “Ms. Gessese knowingly claimed deductions and credits her clients did not qualify for which led to tax returns being false. IRS-CI’s top priority is to root out these unscrupulous tax preparers and hold them accountable.” “This is an example of a tax preparer using their position of trust to steal from clients. American taxpayers should have confidence and trust in their tax preparers when paying them to assist them in filing their federal tax returns with the Internal Revenue Service,” said Special Agent in Charge Rod Ammari, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, Western Field Division. “Today’s sentencing is a reminder to other paid tax preparers that they will be held accountable if they use their position of trust to defraud the American taxpayer or the IRS.” Taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant against unscrupulous tax preparers. The IRS has information on its website for choosing a tax return preparer and has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers. The IRS also offers tips to recognize tax scams and fraud. IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) and Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration investigated this matter. Assistant United States Attorneys Alexander Tran, General Crimes Section, Criminal Division; Cameron Vanderwall, General Crimes Section, Criminal Division; and Valerie Makarewicz, Major Frauds Section, Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California prosecuted this case. IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad.
