An unlicensed Vancouver tax preparer was sentenced Monday to nine months in prison and four months of electronic home confinement for federal tax fraud charges for operating a business that filed false tax documents on behalf of immigrants. Saul Richard Valdez pleaded guilty in April 2023 in U.S. District Court in Tacoma to four counts of aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of false and fraudulent returns. He has also agreed to pay $54,045 in restitution — the amount of tax loss incurred, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. “This defendant built his business by obtaining inflated tax refunds for clients who had little understanding of the U.S. tax system,” U.S. Attorney Tessa Gorman said in a news release. “Ultimately some of these clients were hit with back tax payments, fees, and penalties because this defendant intentionally filed false tax returns on their behalf.” Valdez wrote in a letter to the court for his sentencing hearing that he regretted his actions and apologized for the harm he caused.

Prosecutors say between 2016 and 2018, Valdez operated Conexion Latina and used programs, such as TaxAct and TurboTax, to prepare taxes on behalf of his immigrant clients. As part of a plea agreement, Valdez admitted to claiming false expenses, donations and credits on 36 tax returns, totaling the $54,000 in tax losses, according to the news release. However, prosecutors say a statistical sample of 50 of some 2,000 tax returns Valdez filed shows the total tax loss is $1,293,921.