LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The owner of an Encino tax preparation company pleaded guilty Thursday to helping a client file a false tax return that underreported the client's income, and admitted causing a loss to the Internal Revenue Service of more than $400,000.
Bijan Kohanzad, 62, of Calabasas, pleaded guilty in downtown Los Angeles to one federal count of aiding and assisting the filing of a false tax return, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
According to his plea agreement, beginning in mid-2015 and lasting until May 2017, Kohanzad helped and counseled a client to reduce the client's taxable income. He did so illegally by falsely increasing the client's business expenses reported on the client's federal tax returns, federal prosecutors said.
On the client's corporate tax return for the year 2015, the client's company claimed $150,000 in advertising expenses, a claim that Kohanzad knew was false, prosecutors said. The false expense claim reduced the company's ordinary business income from more than $326,000 to over $176,000, and fraudulently reduced the income the client would then report on his individual tax return.
In September 2016, Kohanzad also advised the same client to file a false individual income tax return for the year 2015. On the return, the client failed to report the roughly $150,000 in concealed income that the client had received through his company. As a result, the client's personal tax return falsely reported a taxable income of $127,878, when the actual amount exceeded $278,000.
The total loss Kohanzad caused to the IRS for the two tax years was about $401,436. Kohanzad admitted in his plea agreement that he acted willfully and that he voluntarily and intentionally violated federal law.
U.S. District Judge André Birotte Jr. scheduled a July 12 sentencing hearing, at which time Kohanzad will face up to three years in federal prison, prosecutors noted.