Corona Tax Preparer Who Filed Fraudulent Returns Headed to Prison
RIVERSIDE (CNS) – A Corona tax preparer who filed numerous fraudulent returns was bound for federal prison Tuesday to serve a six-year sentence.
Salvador Gonzalez pleaded guilty in June to three counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns. During a hearing at U.S. District Court in downtown Riverside Monday, Judge Jesus Bernal imposed the 72- month prison term and ordered Gonzalez to pay $403,908 in restitution to the government.
The defendant was arrested in March 2023 after a federal grand jury handed down a 47-count indictment.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, he operated Grace’s Lighthouse Resource Center Inc., and from 2013 to 2021, he “prepared income tax returns for individuals and corporate clients to submit to the IRS that claimed tens of thousands of dollars in bogus business losses.”
“Gonzalez directed his clients to create a phony corporation and to title their homes, cars and other assets in the name of the corporation,” the agency stated. “Gonzalez then referred those clients to an associate to prepare these sham corporations’ tax returns.”
Prosecutors said the defendant arranged for customers to submit business and personal expenses, including mortgage and car payments, as well as utility bills, indicating a “loss” at the end of every tax cycle.
“Gonzalez then prepared the clients’ individual income tax returns, which incorporated the fraudulent business losses and offset their income,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said. “To further reduce the clients’ taxes owed to the IRS, Gonzalez fabricated deductions on the personal returns such as unreimbursed employee expenses, cash contributions to charity and medical and dental expenses.”
The defendant’s fees were initially $500 per return, but in 2019, he converted the payment for services to 1% of customers’ adjusted gross incomes, prosecutors said.
“In total, Gonzalez caused a tax loss to the IRS of at least $28 million,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said, citing court records.
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