Businessman is accused of tax fraud

APhoenix business owner is being accused of bilking the federal government out of hundreds of thousands of dollars through bogus tax credits reserved for first-time homebuyers.

Jose Gonzalez, 45, owner of Gonzco Insurance and Tax Services, was indicted by a grand jury last week on eight counts of filing false tax returns and wrongfully claiming more than $600,000 in tax credits.

The indictment accused Gonzalez of falsely claiming tax credits on 84 of 89 individual tax returns, including his own in 2009, which paid up to $8,000 per individual.

The crime, according to authorities, is that none of the 84 individuals bought his or her first home in 2008 and did not qualify for the tax credits.

“I don’t know anything about that,” Gonzalez said in a phone interview Friday. “I didn’t even know that was going on.”

Gonzalez operated two businesses in Phoenix and another in Tucson. He said that he knew authorities were investigating his operation but was unaware that criminal charges were filed against him.

“I guess I got to speak to an attorney,” he said.

The allegation of tax-credit abuse is the latest in a string of mortgage-fraud cases that plagued the country as the real-estate market went from boom to bust in the past decade.

State and federal officials three years ago launched a nationwide crackdown on mortgage fraud. Prosecutors targeted buyers, loan officers, titlecompany officials and others in cases that ranged from cash back and socalled flipping schemes to loan-modification boiler rooms that falsely promised to ameliorate debt for fees.

The First-Time Homebuyer Credit was part of the government’s recovery effort in the wake of the nationwide financial crisis.

According to federal authorities, firsttime homebuyers in 2008 were allowed to apply for a one-time tax credit valued at 10 percent of the home’s purchase price up to $7,500.

Initially, homebuyers were required to repay the tax credits over a 15-year period. But beginning in 2009, federal requirements were loosened so that buyers did not have to repay the credits as long as they remained in the house for 36 months. The amount of the credit also increased to $8,000.

The Internal Revenue Service investigators said they found Gonzalez applied for tax credits whether or not his clients were first-time homebuyers.

“The returns were false and fraudulent,” the indictment states. “The defendant then and there knew (that) taxpayers were not entitled to claim in the claimed amounts.”

State business records show that Gonzalez operated Gonzco since 2004 as a limited liability company.

Tax preparers do not have to be licensed in Arizona. The Arizona Department of Insurance shows that Gonzalez’s license to sell insurance in the state expired in 2012.

Gonzalez’s insurance license was first issued in 1999 and renewed in 2008.

Court records show he racked up nearly a dozen criminal and traffic offenses prior to receiving his insurance license and during the time it was CALL 12 FOR ACTION active.

Those include: assault, threats and intimidation and disorderly conduct charges in 2012; failure to appear in court in 2009; driving without registration in 2001; driving without proof of insurance and driving on a suspended license in 1997; failure to appear in court in 1996 and 1994; driving without a valid driver’s license and shoplifting in 1989.

None of Gonzalez’s criminal records is reflected on his state license to sell insurance. Gonzalez is scheduled to be arraigned on the latest federal charges April 19.