Montgomery Village Tax Preparer Pleads Guilty To Federal Charges

MONTGOMERY VILLAGE, MD — A Montgomery Village woman has pleaded guilty to aiding and assisting in filing false tax returns and aggravated identity theft, the U.S. attorney's office in Maryland announced Friday.

Prosecutors say Maria Espinal, a 53-year-old tax preparer, faces five years in federal prison after using stolen identities to file fraudulent tax returns for clients and obtaining the refunds to which clients were not entitled.

Espinal owned and operated a tax return preparation business in Gaithersburg. And in a span of six years, beginning in 2011, prosecutors said Espinal filed false tax returns to get state and federal refunds.

In order to obtain a fraudulent refund, Espinal is accused of altering other people's W-2 forms by replacing their names with the names of her clients. Her clients were then able to claim other people's withholdings as their own, prosecutors said.

In at least one instance, prosecutors added, Espinal filed a tax return using another person's identity, generated a fraudulent refund, and then deposited the money into her personal bank account.

She also posted a sign in her office in Spanish that read: "If you have lost your [identification] number or passport we have these people," and a list of identifying information for individuals, officials said.

Sentencing for Espinal is scheduled for April 2, 2020, at 9:30 a.m.