South Carolina tax preparer pleads guilty to tax fraud.

• Position: Georgina Gonzalez

A South Carolina return preparer and regional manager of multiple tax preparation business locations based in Columbia pleaded guilty on Tuesday, May 24, to conspiracy to defraud the United States by preparing and filing false tax returns.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Georgina Gonzalez, formerly of Miami, Fla., worked as a tax return preparer since at least 2013.

For the 2016 and 2017 tax filing seasons, Gonzalez temporarily relocated from Florida to South Carolina to prepare tax returns and manage multiple locations of a tax preparation business in Columbia, according to court documents. At these offices, Gonzalez conspired with others to inflate client refunds by preparing returns that falsely claimed, among other things, business losses, household help income, and American Opportunity and education tax credits.

Gonzalez and her co-conspirators charged clients up to $999 for preparing each return. In total, Gonzalez caused a tax loss to the IRS of more than $420,000, according to reports.

Gonzalez is scheduled to be sentenced at a later date and faces a maximum...