Tax Preparer Gets 18 Months, $4,200 Fine

The owner of a Mission Hills tax preparation business has been sentenced to 18 months in federal prison for failing to report $900,000 in earnings, the U.S. attorney said.

Robert Jimenez, 58, pleaded guilty in August to two felony counts of tax evasion and four felony counts of aiding in the preparation of false tax returns. On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Robert Takasugi sentenced Jimenez to prison and fined him $4,200.

Jimenez, who was ordered to begin serving his time in April, could have been sentenced to up to 22 years in prison and received a $1 million fine.

Three others connected to Robert Jimenez Associates have been convicted of violating federal tax laws, authorities said.

In January, Jose Garcia, 44, of Simi Valley, was sentenced to one year in federal prison and fined $3,200 after admitting that he failed to file a tax return for 1991 and helped to prepare false tax returns.

In November, Enoch Martinez, 41, formerly of Sylmar, and Carmen Nona Ayala, 59, of Granada Hills, were ordered to serve six months’ home detention as part of their probation sentences. Martinezand Ayala had earlier pleaded guilty to single counts of filing a false federal tax return and three counts each of aiding in the preparation of false tax returns for clients, the U.S. attorney said.

The sentencing of Jimenez concluded a case that began in March 1994, when Internal Revenue Service agents conducted an undercover investigation into Jimenez and Associates. In April of that year agents seized the firm’s business records.

According to the U.S. attorney, “the investigation revealed a pattern of fictitious entries on clients’ tax returns, including bogus deductions such as mortgage interest, charitable contributions, rental expenses and employee business expenses.”

Jimenez refused comment.