The owner of B.A. Income Tax Services, located in Santa Paula, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for preparing income tax returns that allowed clients to claim false deductions and helping an individual secure a home loan they were not qualified to obtain.

Benjamin Aparicio, of Fillmore, California, was sentenced today by United States District Judge Dean D. Pregerson. Aparicio pleaded guilty last year to aiding and assisting in the preparation of false income tax returns and committing wire fraud with respect to mortgage loans.

In addition to the prison term, Judge Pregerson ordered Aparicio to pay restitution. The amount of restitution is the amount of the criminal tax loss of $176,100, plus the loss associated with the defaulted residential home loan, $185,000.

According to his plea agreement, Aparicio aided and assisted clients in the preparation of a false partnership tax return and a false individual income tax return for the tax year 2003. Furthermore, in 2006 Aparicio falsely verified by telephone the contents of a tax reference letter used to secure a residential home loan for an unidentified individual, knowing that the tax reference letter contained false information and causing the home loan to be funded.

According to documents filed with the court, in the months before Aparicio was first contacted by the IRS’s Criminal Investigation Division in 2005, defendant was put on clear notice that his tax return preparation activities were under scrutiny by the IRS. The IRS’s civil division proposed civil penalties against Aparicio for understating the tax liabilities of his clients. Instead of taking into account the clear warning from the IRS that his tax return preparation activities were under scrutiny, Aparicio continued to prepare false tax returns that understated the tax due.

Even after being confronted directly by the IRS’s Criminal Investigation Division in 2005, Aparicio continued to disregard the IRS. In 2006, Aparicio counseled a client to create false documents for the client’s IRS audit. Aparicio was present at the audit when the false documents were presented to the auditor. Also in 2006, Aparicio provided false information with respect to the residential mortgage loan application.

The investigation and prosecution of Aparicio was conducted by IRS - Criminal Investigation and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in conjunction with the Tax Division of the United States Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles.