RIDGEWOOD — A Ridgewood tax preparer has been sentenced after pleading guilty to filing false tax returns in an effort to get $4 million in tax refunds from the state, state Tax and Finance Commissioner Robert Megna said last week.
Tommasina Paolino, 45, of 70−06 69th Place in Glendale, pleaded guilty Nov. 18 to attempted grand larceny, a class C felony.
She was sentenced to three to six years in prison for fraudulently filing 36 tax returns between 2003 and 2006 and ordered to repay $744,770 to the state.
Paolino operated Titan Enterprises, a tax preparation business at 68−51A Fresh Pond Road in Ridgewood.
Paolino filed phony tax returns using taxpayers’ Social Security numbers and credit card information without their permission. The tax returns were used to claim unauthorized investment tax credits designed specifically for the financial services industry.
The Tax Department issued tax refunds ranging up to $160,000 for a total of $1.6 million before learning of Paolino’s scheme. The department has recovered $971,736.63 from various accounts under her name, Megna said.
