Falls Church Area Tax Prep Business Owner Gets Prison Time

An Annandale man who operated a tax preparation business in the Falls Church area was sentenced to nine years in prison for conspiracy, aiding in the preparation of false tax returns, mail and wire fraud.

Jose Manlapaz, 55, who owned JBM Financial Group, profited from preparing thousands of false returns between 2007 and 2017, federal prosecutors say. He added false or inflated items such as education credits, childcare expenses and fake business expenses to tax returns. Knowing these items could cause clients to be audited, he started document mill in the Philippines called TMendoza Accounting Services to fabricate fake receipts and tax forms to submit to the IRS on clients' behalf.

Manlapaz made money by charging higher fees when clients got higher refunds and for preparing fraudulent responses to IRS audit notices.

The IRS's Criminal Investigation Division searched JBM in 2013 and 2017. During this time, he kept preparing false tax returns but removed preparer information so it appeared the clients were the ones submitting the tax returns.

Authorities searched his home and two safe deposit boxes in 2017, finding $1.3 million in cash and valuables, including Rolex watches. Investigations revealed Manlapaz had wired around $1.5 million to the Philippines.

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