Wichita construction business owner indicted for tax fraud over skipped IRS payments
A Wichita business owner is facing federal charges after authorities say he failed to turn over hundreds of thousands of dollars in employee payroll taxes to the Internal Revenue Service.
A July 13 federal grand jury indictment announced Monday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Kansas says Jesus Perez-Aguayo collected the tax money from JLP Construction and JP Remodeling employees from 2015 to 2019 — including federal income taxes, Medicare tax payments and social security taxes — but never turned it over to the IRS. The companies are both painting and construction businesses.
His defense attorney, James Pratt, declined to comment on the indictment Monday afternoon.
Perez-Aguayo, who also goes by the names Sebastian Chavez and Sebastian Chavez-Campos, “had the responsibility for the business to collect, truthfully account for, and pay over payroll taxes for JLP and JPR” and “knew about the requirement to file employment tax returns, and to withhold and pay over the employment taxes,” the indictment says.
But during the five-year period, Perez-Aguayo “failed to pay the employment taxes due and failed to pay over the withheld employment taxes,” the indictment alleges.
In all, he collected and kept $211,226 that was supposed to go to the IRS, the indictment says.
The alleged misconduct began on or around June 30, 2015, and continued through Dec. 31, 2019. Perez-Aguayo was required to report the total amount of wages and compensation subject to withholding and other figures every quarter, according to the indictment.
He is charged with 17 counts of failure to pay over payroll taxes, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and court records. Perez-Aguayo is scheduled for an initial appearance in court on Friday afternoon.
If convicted, he could be sentenced to up to five years in federal prison on each count.
This story was originally published July 26, 2021 at 11:29 AM.
