Suburban Accountant Pleads Guilty In Tax Evasion Scheme

SOUTH BARRINGTON, IL —A suburban Chicago accountant has pleaded guilty to a federal tax offense for evading more than $3.4 million in federal and state income taxes.

Imran Mahmood, 56, of South Barrington, pleaded guilty last week to the tax evasion charge. He now faces up to five years in federal prison when he is sentenced on June 11, according to a news release.

Mahmood was a certified public accountant who provided accounting services for an Illinois not-for-profit organization and a related company. From 2011 to 2014, Mahmood obtained from the two entities about $9.1 million.

The majority of that money came from a not-for-profit organization’s payroll accounts. Mahmood used the funds to make personal expenditures.

Mahmood attempted to conceal the scheme by mischaracterizing payments in the books and records of the entities from which he obtained the money, according to the news release. Although Mahmood hired a tax professional to assist in filing Mahmood’s income tax returns, he failed to disclose to the professional all of the funds that he received and his ownership of the entity into which he deposited those funds.

This conduct caused the filing of false tax returns for the years 2011 to 2014.

Mahmood admitted in a plea agreement that his conduct resulted in a total federal and state tax loss of approximately $3,468,523, according to the news release.