Belmont tax preparer gets 2-year sentence

A tax preparer from Belmont was sentenced to two years in prison Wednesday for tax evasion and filing false tax returns, acting U.S. Attorney Jill Rose said.

Jessica Ordonez, 38, pleaded guilty in April 2014 to tax evasion and aiding and assisting in the preparation of a false tax return.

U.S. District Judge Robert Conrad on Wednesday also ordered Ordonez to serve one year under court supervision after her release from prison and to pay $288,302.63 as restitution.

Ordonez owned Tax Pros, which also did business as Ordonez Tax Services, with offices in Gastonia and Morganton, Rose said.

Between 2004 and 2012, court records show, Ordonez prepared at least 100 false tax returns for 23 taxpayers, using fraudulent individual taxpayer identification numbers.

Ordonez used false child tax-credit claims and other false information to prepare the fraudulent returns, which entitled her clients to large tax refunds, Rose said.

The tax loss associated with the fraudulent returns amounted to about $202,217, records show.

Ordonez also failed to report her income on her individual tax returns for tax years 2009 to 2011, with a corresponding tax loss of $86,085, records show.

This story was originally published March 26, 2015 at 12:35 PM with the headline "Belmont tax preparer gets 2-year sentence."