Owner of Arkansas Tree Service Business Sentenced for Tax Fraud

An Arkansas man was sentenced yesterday to 20 months in prison for filing a false individual income tax return.

According to court documents and statements made in court, Carlos Gonzalez, 59, of Rogers, filed false tax returns that underreported the gross receipts from his tree-trimming and removal business, Charley’s Tree Service. From 2014 through 2020, Gonzalez cashed more than $3 million in customer checks instead of depositing them into his business’ bank account, knowing that his return preparer relied on the bank account records when preparing his returns. In addition, he did not tell his return preparer about the cashed checks. As such, the return preparer prepared tax returns that underreported gross receipts from his business resulting in a tax loss to the IRS of more than $900,000.

In addition to his prison sentence, U.S. District Court Judge Timothy Brooks for the Western District of Arkansas ordered Gonzalez to serve one year of supervised release and to pay approximately $1.4 million in restitution to the United States and the State of Arkansas.

Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division and U.S. Attorney David Clay Fowlkes for the Western District of Arkansas made the announcement.

IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

Trial Attorneys Curtis Weidler and Wilson Stamm of the Tax Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Carly Marshall for the Western District of Arkansas prosecuted the case.