A Vancouver tax preparer was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison on Friday for filing thousands of fraudulent tax returns, resulting in millions of dollars in losses for the US Treasury.
Keith Altamirano, 52, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Tacoma after pleading guilty to 16 counts of aiding and abetting in the preparation of false and fraudulent tax returns, according to a news release from the United States Attorney’s Office.
Altamirano had already been imprisoned when he was sentenced Friday. In early September, he was sentenced to 13 years in jail for second-degree attempted murder of his son and possessing a controlled narcotic with the intent to supply.
Altamirano owned a tax firm named Integrity Investments, sometimes known as Servicios Latinos. He aided and assisted in the preparation of false and fraudulent returns between 2017 and 2021, according to the US Attorney’s Office.
According to the news release, a statistical sampling analysis revealed that incorrect information included in client returns cost the federal government more than $5 million in tax losses.
Altamirano manipulated tax returns, according to court documents, by reporting fictitious medical bills and charitable gifts, phony automobiles for depreciation and expense deductions, and overstated or manufactured business expenses.
Prosecutors claimed Altamirano disguised the fraud by removing his name from the submitted returns. Altamirano’s clients, unaware of the fabricated nature of their returns, believed he was helping them secure legitimate refunds. Prosecutors claimed that the overstated reimbursements helped Altamirano expand his firm through word-of-mouth referrals.
According to the news release, prosecutors wanted a five-year term, and Altamirano’s clients relied on him to maximize their deductions in an honest and legal manner.
“His clients were not tax experts, yet they hired him as a reliable professional. Altamirano abused this trust and jeopardized their safety by filing bogus returns on their behalf,” prosecutors stated in the news announcement. “Many of his clients have been audited and could face penalties and back taxes. His clients assumed they were engaging a professional to ensure their taxes were done correctly, and many of them have had to deal with the stress of being involved in Altamirano’s criminal cases.”
Altamirano pleaded guilty to 16 counts, resulting in a total tax loss of $104,518. He was compelled to pay that amount as reparation to the Internal Revenue Service. Chief US District Judge David G. Estudillo also ordered Altamirano to sell one of his four properties to assist pay the reparations.
Altamirano’s federal sentence will run concurrently with the 135-month sentence he received in Clark County Superior Court for attempted murder of his son and narcotics offenses.
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