Brownsburg tax preparer faces prison over fraudulent returns that led to large refunds

One client received a refund of more than $16,000 instead of paying $1,765 if the federal tax return had been done correctly.

Court records show that another received nearly $12,000 instead of paying $3,397.

A Brownsburg tax preparer faces federal prison time after signing a petition to plead guilty to two counts of aiding and assisting the making of a false federal income tax return, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Indiana announced Friday.

Evans Kludje, 43, was responsible for preparing and filing thousands of fraudulent tax returns from 2017 through 2025, according to a statement from the attorney’s office.

A lawyer who represented Kludje in the case did not respond to a request from The Indiana Lawyer for comment.

Kludje worked as a tax preparer for Millennium Tax Group before launching his own company, Imperium Financial Group, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

He prepared false tax returns by submitting fraudulent Schedule A forms without the knowledge of his clients, the U.S. Attorney’s Office statement said. And he would claim large, itemized deductions to reduce taxable income and produce refunds clients were not entitled to receive.

Kludje reported on one return that a client made more than $40,000 in charitable contributions and another $40,877 in “Other Itemized Deductions,” according to a July 31 petition to enter a guilty plea filed in federal court. The document notes that both deductions were false.

That led to the client receiving a $16,494 refund when the person should have owed $1,765, the petition said.

The court papers also cite another case where Kludje prepared a Schedule A that noted more than $87,000 in false deductions. That led to a refund of around $11,967.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said Kludje also filed returns under client names without disclosing himself as the paid preparer, which is required by law.

Kludje faces a maximum sentence of up to five years in federal prison for each count, according to the attorney’s office. No sentencing date has been set.