Riverside County tax preparer pleads guilty to filing false returns

A Riverside tax preparer pleaded guilty Monday to federal criminal charges for filing thousands of tax returns that falsely claimed deductions, such as fake medical expenses and bogus mortgage interest, and which caused more than $3 million in losses to the IRS.

Andrew Hansack, 39, entered his plea in Los Angeles federal court to two counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Starting in January 2015, Hansack prepared personal income tax returns at AJ Loyal Income Tax Service, a Riverside-based company. Hansack filed tax returns for some of his clients that included false itemized deductions. Specifically, Hansack filed tax returns for these clients that indicated they had paid mortgage interest for their homes, when in truth, as Hansack knew, his clients did not own a home.

Hansack also claimed false medical expenses, sales tax, and gifts by cash or check on some tax returns he prepared that he knew to be false.

For the tax years 2015 through 2019, Hansack filed about 2,533 returns with false deductions on behalf of his clients. Because of Hansack’s criminal activity, the Internal Revenue Service was prevented from assessing and collecting the correct amount of taxes owed by the clients. This resulted in a loss in assessed and collected taxes to the IRS between $3,369,886 and $3,799,378, according to federal prosecutors.

Hansack has agreed to pay a criminal fine of at least $50,000 and also agreed to a permanent ban on him helping to prepare tax returns for anyone other than himself or his spouse.

U.S. District Judge Stephen V. Wilson scheduled a May 22 sentencing hearing, at which time Hansack will face up to three years in federal prison for each count, prosecutors noted.