A husband and wife from Maui pleaded guilty to tax fraud Thursday, and both face prison time when they are sentenced this summer.

Charles D. Loewen, 57, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson to one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and one count of filing a false claim for a tax refund.

Loewen, owner of Paradise Stone & Tile, used a scheme to claim large refunds from the Internal Revenue Service by filing bogus accounts of federal income tax withheld, his plea agreement said.

In August 2008, Loewen filed a false tax refund for himself in the amount of $1,716,224. He also filed a false refund for his wife, claiming $61,344 in September 2009 and $575,605 in June 2009, the document said.

Loewen also admitted to using his wife’s Arizona bank account to conceal income from his tile business and filing tax forms in March 2008 that claimed he earned no income in 2004, 2005 and 2006,

Loewen, who agreed to pay restitution, faces up to five years in prison and a fine of $250,000 for each count when he is sentenced July 3.

Although a federal indictment filed last year named both Loewen and his wife, Paula Loewen, as defendants, Charles Loewen took most of the blame.

Paula Loewen, 56, also pleaded guilty Thursday, but to only one misdemeanor count of willful failure to file a return.

She told U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren that she knew she should have filed her tax return for $71,839 in income in 2007 but failed to do so.

She faces up to one year in prison and a maximum fine of $25,000 when she is sentenced July 3.