Wichita business owner guilty of tax fraud for failing to turn over payments to IRS
A Wichita painting and construction business owner has pleaded guilty to one count of failing to turn over to the Internal Revenue Service payroll taxes he withheld from employee earnings, according to a news release from the United States Attorney’s Office in Kansas.
Jesus Perez-Aguayo, 39, admitted that he didn’t turn over the full amount he owed in payroll taxes between 2014 and 2019, creating a $286,049 tax loss to the federal agency, the release says.
He also admitted to using his business bank account to pay for personal expenses, the release says.
“Mr. Perez-Aguayo’s guilty plea shows that IRS Criminal Investigation will aggressively pursue those who commit employment tax fraud,” Special Agent in Charge Tyler Hatcher said in a prepared statement included in the release.
“When business owners collect and then fail to pay over employment taxes, it not only hurts the government but all of the honest and hardworking employees as well.”
Perez-Aguayo owned and operated two companies, JLP Construction and JP Remodeling. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and his plea agreement says he failed to fulfill his “responsibility to collect employee payroll taxes then forward the funds” on voluntarily “except when contacted” by IRS collections.
He pleaded guilty Tuesday.
Perez-Aguayo faces up to five years in federal prison when he is sentenced on July 7.
This story was originally published April 8, 2022 at 12:54 PM.
