New York Preparer Draws 37-Month Sentence
Howard Levine, owner of a Dix Hill, N.Y.-based tax preparation business was sentenced to 37 months in prison this week after he pleaded guilty in January to obstructing internal revenue laws and preparing false returns for clients. He was also ordered to pay $320,998 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.
Levine, who operated Milaur Associates, prepared many of the returns from 2004 through 2009 containing fake deductions, expenses and corporate losses. In 2009, he was barred from preparing federal returns for anyone other than himself. However, he violated a court injunction and then provided false information in the paid preparer section of the returns that he handled in order to deceive the IRS. Levine admitted to preparing 56 false federal income tax returns which cost the IRS $620,000 in lost taxes.
