A tax return preparer in Southern California pled guilty to operating a tax return preparation business that prepared over 11,000 tax returns, demanding refunds totaling over $38 million from the IRS beginning in 2013.
Salvador Gonzalez, owner of Grace’s Lighthouse Resource Center, Inc., directed his clients to create false corporations and title their homes, cars, and other assets to their corporations. Then when the corporation’s tax returns were prepared, bogus expenses were claimed including personal expenses related to the home and cars, along with false deductions for charitable contributions and employee expenses.
Gonzalez charged clients $500 for return preparation in most cases, until 2019 when he began charging 1% of his clients’ gross income for his services.
Gonzalez faces a maximum penalty of three years in prison for each of the three counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns, to which he has pled guilty. He also faces a period of supervised release, restitution, and monetary penalties.
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