A Bergen County woman has been sentenced to 36 months in prison for tax evasion and aiding in the preparation of false tax returns, according to an announcement by U.S. Attorney Alina Habba. Joshlyn Raye, 49, from Elmwood Park, admitted guilt before U.S. District Judge Esther Salas in Newark federal court.
Raye faced charges of aiding and assisting in preparing a false tax return, tax evasion, and filing a false declaration under penalty of perjury related to her quarterly tax return for her business. The court documents reveal that between March 2010 and September 2023, Raye owned JB Tax Services in Hackensack. During this period, she evaded personal income taxes over three years and filed 177 fraudulent tax returns for clients. Additionally, she submitted three false quarterly employment tax returns for her business using fabricated figures.
Judge Salas imposed a sentence that includes not only the prison term but also three years of supervised release. Raye is required to pay $1,109,214.10 in restitution.
The investigation was conducted by members of the IRS-Criminal Investigation led by Special Agent Jenifer Piovesan and the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance's Office of Internal Affairs under Director Brian Hickey.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Levin represented the government in this case.
Defense counsel was Richard J. Sapinski.