A Bergen County woman was 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 including aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false and fraudulent tax return, tax evasion, and filing a false declaration under penalty of perjury concerning a quarterly tax return for her business.
Court documents revealed that between March 2010 and September 2023, Raye operated JB Tax Services in Hackensack. During this period, she evaded personal income taxes over three years, filed 177 false tax returns for clients, and submitted three inaccurate quarterly employment tax returns for her business. The falsified documents contained fabricated expenses and deductions.
In addition to her prison sentence, Judge Salas ordered Raye to serve three years of supervised release and pay $1,109,214.10 in restitution.
U.S. Attorney Habba acknowledged the efforts of IRS-Criminal Investigation members 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 for their roles in the investigation leading to Raye's sentencing.
The prosecution was handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Benjamin Levin from the OCDETF/Narcotics Unit in Newark.
Defense counsel for Raye was Richard J. Sapinski, Esq.
