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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - A Santa Clarita man was sentenced to five months in federal prison, followed by six months of home confinement, for substantially underreporting on his personal income tax returns money he made from his chiropractic service over a four-year period, the Internal Revenue Service announced today.
Jong Moon Chung, 54, was sentenced Thursday by U.S. District Judge John A. Kronstadt, who also ordered him to pay $144,759 in restitution and a $25,000 criminal fine. Chung pleaded guilty in December to one count of aiding or assisting in the preparation of a false tax return, according to the IRS.
Authorities said Chung owned and operated J Chung Chiropractic Clinic, and from April 2014 to June 2017, he helped prepare fraudulent personal federal income tax returns.
For example, in 2013, Chung cashed checks he received for his chiropractic services in the amount of $121,229 at a check-cashing business, rather than depositing them in a bank account. Chung earned about $140,989 in additional income that year for a total income of $262,218. But Chung only reported a total income of $71,031 on his Form 1040 for the tax year 2013, according to the IRS.
Chung engaged in similar acts for the next three tax years, cashing his checks for chiropractic services at a check-cashing business instead of depositing them at a bank. As a result, Chung underreported his income by tens of thousands of dollars for each of the tax years 2014, 2015 and 2016. In each instance, Chung acted willfully to falsely understate his annual income and minimize his tax liability, the IRS said.
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