Miami Contractor Pleads Guilty to Employment Tax Fraud

MIAMI – Victor Manuel Amaya pleaded guilty this morning to one count of willfully filing a false tax return before U.S. District Court Judge Cecilia M. Altonaga, the Justice Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today. The court set sentencing for Nov. 3, 2010.

According to court documents, from 2004 through 2007, Amaya, who owns Amaya Contracting and Stucco Inc. (ACS), filed fraudulent employment tax returns with the IRS and caused his company to underpay its federal employment taxes. To avoid having to report all of ACS’s employment tax obligations, Amaya regularly cashed checks made out to ACS at a local check cashing store instead of depositing them into the company’s account. Amaya then used the cash to pay his workers, which allowed him to report lower wages and lower employment taxes due on ACS’s employment tax returns. Amaya also used the cash for materials and personal expenses. Additionally, Amaya wrote ACS checks to fictitious companies and cashed them at local check cashing stores. Amaya also used this cash to pay his workers.

Amaya pleaded guilty to a one-count information charging him with willfully filing a false employment tax return with the IRS. All told, Amaya failed to report to the IRS approximately $2,130,568 in wages, which resulted a tax loss of approximately $319,585. Amaya faces a maximum of three years in prison and has agreed to pay restitution to the IRS of $319,585.

Wifredo A. Ferrer, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and John A. DiCicco, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Department of Justice, Tax Division, commended the IRS Special Agents who investigated this case and Tax Division Trial Attorney Matthew J. Mueller, who prosecuted the case.