Anita Marie Rodriguez Perez, a 51-year-old resident of Sellersburg, Indiana, has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for her role in preparing and filing hundreds of fraudulent tax returns. The sentence, handed down by U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker in New Albany, also includes two years of supervised release and an order to pay $1,954,673.30 in restitution.
Court records show that between 2021 and 2023, Rodriguez Perez owned and operated ChuliTodo, a tax preparation business based in Clark County. During this period, she prepared and submitted more than 460 false or fraudulent tax returns on behalf of clients to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). The schemes included submitting fabricated Schedule C forms that falsely claimed clients had businesses with significant net losses when they did not operate any businesses during those years. Many returns also contained inflated itemized deductions under Schedule A for medical and dental expenses.
As a result of these actions covering tax years 2020 through 2022, taxpayers received refunds far exceeding what they were legally entitled to receive. The IRS determined that these fraudulent filings led to a total tax loss estimated at $1,575,250.
United States Attorney Tom Wheeler commented on the case: “Tax fraud undermines the integrity of our financial system and unfairly shifts the burden onto honest taxpayers,” said Tom Wheeler, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana. “When tax preparers exploit their expertise to deceive the government, they not only violate the law—they betray the trust of their clients. These cases are complex and time-consuming to investigate, and the efforts of IRS-CI send a clear message: accountability applies to everyone.”
The investigation was conducted by IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI). Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew B. Miller prosecuted the case.
