PHILADELPHIA, PA — An Indiana tax preparer was convicted Friday of conspiring for more than eight years to defraud the IRS by using false business losses, education credits and deductions to inflate clients’ tax refunds and generate higher preparation fees, according to federal prosecutors in Philadelphia.
A federal jury convicted Manoach Chayaud, 43, of Carmel, Indiana, following a trial in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. He was indicted in December 2024 over conduct prosecutors said occurred from approximately November 2013 through February 2022.
Evidence presented at trial showed Chayaud recruited two people in Philadelphia to participate in the tax-preparation operation, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Chayaud maintained an office in Indiana while the two co-conspirators operated from an office in Philadelphia.
Prosecutors proved at trial that Chayaud taught the two individuals methods for increasing customer refunds through false information on federal tax returns.
Those methods included filing Schedule C forms reporting large losses for businesses that clients did not operate, improperly claiming education credits and using fraudulent Schedule A deductions, according to prosecutors.
The inflated refunds allowed Chayaud and his co-conspirators to charge clients additional tax-preparation fees. Chayaud split the business proceeds with one co-conspirator, while the other received a percentage of the preparation fees, prosecutors said.
The scheme operated in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and elsewhere for more than eight years.
Chayaud is scheduled to be sentenced Dec. 15. He faces a maximum possible sentence of five years in prison, a fine or both.
IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jessica Rice and David Ignall prosecuted it.
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