The owner of the Cititax Tax Refund stores in Pittsburgh, Pa. has pleaded guilty to cheating the government of $7.2 million by inflating client tax refunds.The owner, Ephrem F. Lijalem pleaded guilty to two counts of tax preparation fraud in a case in which the government said store preparers routinely falsified returns. Lijalem, who is a resident of Carpentersville, Ill., faces a possible six years in prison and a fine of $500,000.
The Internal Revenue Service said preparers regularly utilized deductions for non-existent business, inflated income and altered expenses on Schedule Cs.
