A tax preparer based in Brick Township, N.J., has pleaded guilty to one-count of aiding and assisting in the preparations of false tax returns. Sharif Mahfouz, age 49, admitted that while he operated as owner of Expat Focus Consulting fabricated or inflated foreign earned income exclusion amounts and foreign tax credits. He then had client refunds mailed to his home after which he forged signatures and deposited them into his company’s account.

Mahfouz also also pocketed tax payments that were supposed to go to the Internal Revenue Service.

The Internal Revenue Service estimates that the 26 fraudulent tax returns he filed cost the IRS about $1,152,253, He faces a maximum sentence of three years when he is sentenced on January 20. There charge also carries with it a mandatory fine equal to $250,000; twice the gross amount of any pecuniary gain he derived or) twice the gross amount of losses sustained by the victims.

The clients of EFC, which operated out of Mafouz’s residence, were primarily expatriated individuals. For tax years 2007and 2012, Mahfouz concocted amounts designed to inflate tax refunds. He also kept his clients in the dark about the refunds and provided the IRS EFC Bank of America bank account and a mailing address for EFC in Nanuet, N.Y. The refunds were deposited directly into the account or a refund check was mailed to the Nanuet address, which was then forwarded to his New Jersey residence.

In some cases, Mahfouz prepared accurate versions of the returns, which clients reviewed and approved. If there was a refund due, he told them it would be credited against the next year’s taxes. It tax was due, he instructed them to make the check payable to the IRS, which he then kept for his own use.