LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A Las Vegas tax preparer was sentenced to three years in prison after being convicted of fraudulently
preparing and filing over $1.2 million in tax returns.
52-year-old Maria Magdalena Mendoza pleaded guilty to two counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of fraudulent tax returns in February.
According to court documents, Mendoza began running her tax preparation business — named "Taxes & More" or "Taxs y Más" — around 2013.
Investigators say she used false or inflated deductions and credits on tax returns filed on behalf of her clients. She is also accused of using her clients' personal identifying information to falsely obtain a larger refund on her own tax returns.
In total, documents reveal that she prepared more than 700 tax returns that claimed more than $3 million in refunds from the IRS, causing more than $1.2 million in tax loss.
Mendoza inflated her clients’ refund requests without their knowledge and stole the excess amount of those refunds. Through this scheme, Mendoza diverted over $500,000 of her clients’ tax refund payments into her own accounts from 2013 to 2017.
In March of 2023, while on pretrial release, Mendoza was arrested while in possession of a stolen passport, multiple driver's licenses, and credit cards in the name of other individuals, along with forged copies of checks.
“The defendant prepared hundreds of false income tax returns and brazenly defrauded the IRS of more than $1.2 million,” said United States Attorney Jason M. Frierson for the District of Nevada. “Tax preparers who use false deductions to inflate tax refunds and defraud their clients will be investigated. We will hold unscrupulous tax return preparers accountable.”
If you have information about an individual or a business you suspect of tax fraud, you can submit a report to the IRS at: https://www.irs.gov/individuals/how-do-you-report-suspected-tax-fraud-activity
