A tax preparer from the Inland Empire was sentenced to six years in federal prison for knowingly filing thousands of tax returns that caused the IRS to lose more than $3 million, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Monday.
Andrew Zepeda Hansack, 40, of Riverside, was sentenced by United States District Judge Stephen V. Wilson, who describes Hansack’s crimes as “one of the most serious offenses he has encountered while on the bench,” according to a news release.
Hansack pleaded guilty to two counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return on Feb.27. The judge presiding over the case imposed the statutory maximum sentence for each of the two counts.
In addition to the six-year prison sentence, Hansack has also been ordered to pay a $50,000 fine and about $3.3 million in restitution.
Beginning in 2015, Hansack knowingly filed tax returns that included false itemized deductions for medical expenses, sales tax, mortgage interest payments, and others while working at AJ Loyal Income Tax Service, a Riverside-based company.
From 2015 to 2019, Hansack filed about 2,533 tax returns with false deductions on behalf of his clients, prosecutors said. Due to his activities, the IRS was prevented from collecting the correct amount of taxes owed by his clients.
The judge found that the IRS lost about $3.37 million due to the crimes.