Gypsum man creates fake church to evade taxes

A Gypsum man was sentenced to a year and a day in prison after starting a fake church to avoid paying taxes on an alleged $ 250,000 charitable donation to the organization.

Trenton Switzer, 40, of Gypsum was sentenced this week to a $ 241,964 reimbursement fee on top of jail time after pleading guilty of tax fraud on April 26 this year, according to a Justice Department press release.

“Mr. Switzer’s claim to pastor a fake church he founded to evade his taxes has put him in a real prison,” Acting US Attorney Matt Kirsch said in the press release Bureau will continue to aggressively pursue people who cheat their taxes. “

Switzer owned a sales training company that generated sizeable revenues in 2015 when he decided to start a fake church called the Church of Divine Sovereignty to evade taxes.

Switzerland founded the church, opened a bank account in its name and, according to the announcement, dissolved the organization less than 24 hours after it was founded. He then transferred his “donation” of $ 250,000 to the fake church’s bank account and later used that money to buy bitcoin.

But the plans didn’t stop there.

When Switzer filed his tax return in 2015, he went so far as to hand his tax advisor a fraudulent letter reminding him of the $ 250,000 charitable donation he signed as a “pastor” of the nonexistent church.

“Trenton Switzer’s establishment of a nonprofit church to generate false deductions for charity is not just a crime, but an insult to all taxpayers who pay their fair share of the taxes,” said Andy Tsui, special envoy for the IRS criminal investigation department, in the press release.

The tax advisor told the Switzer that the bogus church does not count as a non-profit organization and therefore the payment is not tax deductible, but the Switzer continued anyway.

He personally filed his 2015 U.S. tax return falsely claiming payment of $ 250,000 as a deduction from charitable donations that was picked up by the Internal Revenue Service’s criminal investigation department.

“IRS-CI’s specialty agents will always devote the resources necessary to bringing those who fail to meet their civil obligation to submit truthful and accurate income tax returns to justice,” said Tsui.

The Switzer case was being prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Jeremy Chaffin of the Colorado District Attorney’s Office. His verdict was passed by U.S. District Court Judge Christine M. Arguello.