Wichita, Kansas - A Holcomb, Kansas, tax return preparer pleaded guilty today to filing a fraudulent income tax return and aiding and assisting in the preparation of fraudulent tax returns announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Richard Zuckerman of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney Stephen R. McAllister for the District of Kansas.

According to documents and information provided to the court, Marcelino Almaraz owned Accounting Services, a business that provided tax preparation and other services.  Almaraz admitted that he fraudulently sought to obtain refunds for individuals by including false filing statuses such as head of household and adding phony dependents in an effort to trigger and inflate child tax credits.  Almaraz also admitted to falsifying his own income tax returns for 2010 and 2011 by underreporting his income.  Almaraz agreed to pay $397,552 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for the tax losses he caused.

U.S. District Court Judge Julie A. Robinson scheduled sentencing for May 14.  Almaraz faces a statutory maximum sentence of three years in prison for each count.  He also faces a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Zuckerman and U.S. Attorney McAllister commended special agents of IRS Criminal Investigation, who conducted the investigation, and Trial Attorney John T. Mulcahy of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jabari Wamble, who are prosecuting the case, and former Tax Division Trial Attorney Ryan R. Raybould, who previously worked on the case.