Think You Have Tax Problems – Upland Man Arrested on State Income Tax Charges

Eight Search Warrants Served on Tax Preparation Business

An Upland man was arrested April 15 on felony charges of filing false state income tax returns, the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) announced.

Jose Alberto Garcia, Jr., 28, is the owner and operator of Mi Oficina Income Tax, a.k.a. My Office Income Tax, a tax preparation business. According to FTB investigators, Garcia allegedly filed false tax returns for 2001 – 2004, failing to claim the nearly $968,000 in unreported income he earned during these years.

The failure to claim the income was first discovered by FTB’s Fraud Prevention and Detection Unit. This program targets people who earned California income, but did not claim the income on their tax return. An earlier search warrant executed on Garcia’s bank account revealed the additional income. After today’s arrest, FTB investigators executed eight more search warrants on Garcia’s eight tax preparation businesses. Mi Oficina Income Tax offices are located in La Puente, Los Angeles, Ontario, Riverside, San Bernardino, Santa Ana, and Temple City.

Each felony tax count carries a three-year maximum term in state prison. All income is taxable, including income from illegal sources. Garcia owes the state more than $85,000 in unpaid tax on the unreported money. Penalties, interest, and the cost of the investigation will be added to the FTB’s restitution request.

The failure to file income tax returns and filing fraudulent tax returns are part of the $6.5 billion tax gap California faces. The tax gap is defined as the difference between the tax that is due and the tax that is paid.

Garcia was booked into the West Valley Detention Center in Rancho Cucamonga. Bail has been set at $100,000, and his next court date has not been set.

Alan Gray is the Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of NewsBlaze Daily News and other online newspapers. He prefers to edit, rather than write, but sometimes an issue rears it’s head and makes him start hammering away on the keyboard.

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Alan is also a techie. His father was a British soldier in the 4th Indian Division in WWII, with Sikhs and Gurkhas. He was a sergeant in signals and after that, he was a printer who typeset magazines and books on his linotype machine. Those skills were passed on to Alan and his brothers, who all worked for Telecom Australia, on more advanced signals (communications). After studying electronics, communications, and computing at college, and building and repairing all kinds of electronics, Alan switched to programming and team building and management.

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