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'Dream team' coach gets 2 years for scamming

August 28, 2009

The man who headed up the "Dream Team" of tax advisors for the "Renaissance - The Tax People" multi-level-marketing tax scam got two years for his trouble in federal court yesterday. Jesse Ayala Cota is a former IRS district director. He headed the outfit's "dream team" of tax advisors, and his credentials gave a veneer of legitimacy to their claims. From the Department of Justice press release:

Owners of home-based businesses who paid to become members of Renaissance received services including tax preparation, tax advice and so-called "audit protection." The so-called "Tax Advantage System" offered by Renaissance was based on fraudulent claims that business owners could legally reduce the taxes they paid by converting personal expenses to business deductions. Cota and other defendants falsely assured Renaissance clients the tax reduction methods were legal. In fact, tax returns filed using Renaissance’s methods were based on providing false and fraudulent information to the IRS.

Many tax scams are based on using home-based businesses to convert personal expenses to deductions. If it seems too good to be true, it just might be.

Russ Fox has more.