Date: October 5, 2023 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov The owner of a tax preparation business in Jamaica Plain was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston for preparing false tax returns for his clients. Joseph Rodriguez was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to 15 months in prison and one year of supervised release. Rodriguez was also ordered to pay restitution of $110,462. In February 2023, Rodriguez pleaded guilty to one count of aiding or assisting in filing a false tax return. On numerous occasions between 2014 and 2017, Rodriguez prepared and filed federal income tax returns for clients in which he included inflated and ineligible expenses on his clients' Schedules A for medical and dental expenses, charitable contributions and unreimbursed employee business expenses. By inflating Schedule A deductions, Rodriguez decreased his clients' taxable income and effectively increased the clients' tax refunds. As a result, Rodriguez caused more than $2 million in tax loss to the IRS. Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy and Harry Chavis, Jr., Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigations in Boston made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen A. Kearney of the Securities, Financial & Cyber Fraud Unit prosecuted the case.
