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EVERETT, Wash. - A 43-year-old Everett man pleaded guilty Thursday to helping file false tax returns, earning his clients more than $200,000 in fake deductions.
According to court records, Abinet Onkiso pleaded guilty to four counts of aiding and assisting in filing false tax returns.
Onkiso owned a tax preparation company called Affordable Income Tax LLC since at least 2012, where prosecutors say he deliberately exaggerated deductions for his clients—unreimbursed expenses, charitable deductions and "other taxes."
Onkiso falsified deductions on more than 79 tax returns for 29 different clients between 2016–2019. In total, the state was ripped off $212,395.
Investigators audited Onkiso's clients, who paid back around $12,000 of the taxes owed. The remaining $200,277 falls on Onkiso to pay back, prosecutors determined.
Onkiso faces up to three years in prison for each count of false tax returns, though prosecutors have recommended he spend no more than six months in prison, per a plea agreement.