Thread: Illegal aliens-rights activist pleads guilty to preparing false tax returns

Immigrant-rights activist pleads guilty to preparing false tax returns

Nathan J. Fish, Arizona Republic
Published 5:15 p.m. MT Sept. 5, 2018


(Photo: The Republic)

Arizona immigrant-rights activist Elias Bermudez has pleaded guilty to preparing false tax returns, court records show.

On Oct. 3,, Bermudez was indicted on 27 counts of aiding in the preparation of false tax returns. He pleaded guilty to one of the charges on Aug. 31, court records show.

Bermudez, founder of Immigrants Without Borders and owner of El Centro de Ayuda, was accused of advising taxpayers to claim unqualified dependents to gain tax-credit deductions, a court filing shows.

Bermudez encouraged taxpayers to claim dependents who lived in Mexico and did not receive the minimum amount of financial support to qualify for the $1,000 Additional Child Tax Credit, the filing shows.

The indictment refers to 27 tax filings between 2010 and 2012 that included inaccurate numbers of dependents, according to the court document. The tax loss totaled $131,651.

Bermudez operates El Centro de Progreso tax preparation in Phoenix and Tucson.

In an interview Wednesday, Bermudez said he wanted to wait until sentencing to tell his side of the story.


"I am going to say some very, very strong things," Bermudez said. "The truth is that, yes, I have accepted responsibility."

Bermudez said he is guilty of determining his clients were eligible to claim dependent children who were living outside the United States and not with the taxpayers, many in Mexico, who were not U.S. citizens.

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Bermudez was accused of failing to explain the eligibility qualifications for the Additional Child Tax Credit and listing on clients' tax returns dependents who did not meet IRS' qualifications for dependents.

"I didn't feel like it was my responsibility to make that determination, because no one in the IRS has that authority," Bermudez said.

The indictment, however, noted that the IRS specifies that the child or dependent must be a U.S. citizen, national, or resident alien or have lived with the taxpayer for more than half of the tax year.

"I'm accepting the responsibilities that I made the mistake of determining or not determining that the person was not eligible according to the rules," Bermudez said. "So, I did it, no doubt about it."

Bermudez faces a maximum fine of $100,000, up to three years in prison and up to five years of probation, court records show.

Bermudez is due in court Dec. 3 at the Sandra Day O'Connor Courthouse.

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news...ns/1207236002/

Bermudez said he is guilty of determining his clients were eligible to claim dependent children who were living outside the United States and not with the taxpayers, many in Mexico, who were not U.S. citizens.

The IRS, Social Security, other agencies need to be ordered to root out this fraud. The illegal aliens are probably claiming dependants that don't exist as well. There should no access to money from our government in any way. This fraud plus remittances, food stamps, other benefits, identity theft, illustrates that illegal aliens have been robbing our nation and taxpayers for decades of billions of dollars..