A 40-year-old Houston woman has pleaded guilty to federal tax offenses involving the failure to pay employee taxes and the preparation of false tax returns, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Levi Casildo Castro pleaded guilty to willfully failing to collect and pay over taxes and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns.
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According to court documents, Castro operated LC Home Remodeling and Maid Service and A&M Home Remodeling and Cleaning. Through those businesses, she withheld federal income, Social Security and Medicare taxes from employees’ wages but failed to turn the money over to the U.S. Treasury.
Prosecutors said Castro also worked as a paid tax preparer without authorization.
She prepared tax returns for clients while falsely indicating that the clients had prepared the returns themselves.
The returns allegedly contained false information about wages, federal tax withholdings, and Social Security and Medicare taxes.
According to the DOJ, Castro inflated those amounts to increase the earned income tax credits her clients could receive.
Castro admitted that her actions resulted in approximately $400,000 in losses to the U.S. Treasury.
U.S. District Judge Lee H. Rosenthal accepted Castro’s guilty plea and scheduled her sentencing for Dec. 16.
Castro faces up to eight years in federal prison and a maximum fine of $110,000.
She was previously released on bond and will remain on bond pending sentencing.
The IRS investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Laurence Goldman is prosecuting the case.
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