Atlantic City Tax Return Preparer Sentenced to Jail for Fraud

The U.S. Department of Justice reports in its press release (quotation, not an independent finding): “WASHINGTON – Eduardo Cortez, a resident of Mays Landing, N.J., was sentenced to 36 months incarceration and three years of supervised release by U.S. District Judge Noel L. Hillman in Camden, N.J., the Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today. According to his plea agreement, Cortez and his employees knowingly prepared false and fraudulent tax returns for customers that included false and inflated deductions, credits and adjustments. Cortez, who is also known as Eduardo Cortes, Edward Cortez, Eduardo Perez, and Eduardo Cottes, was also ordered to pay restitution of $442,734. In August 2008, Cortez pleaded guilty to tax evasion and conspiracy to defraud the IRS. According to his plea agreement, Cortez defrauded the IRS by preparing false tax returns for customers of his business, Peoples Multiple Services, located in Atlantic City. Peoples also operated under the names People Tax Services, Perez Income Tax Services, People Multiple Services Inc., Peoples Multi Level Services and Cormel Inc. According to his plea agreement, Cortez entered into an agreement with the IRS in 2000 stating that he owed over $114,000 in taxes, exclusive of interest and penalties, for calendar years 1993 through 1995. The plea agreement states that Cortez evaded these assessed taxes by taking various steps to conceal his assets and income from the IRS. His conduct, according to the plea agreement, included submitting false documents to the IRS which misrepresented his ability to pay his taxes and understated his net worth. The plea agreement states that Cortez also used ”