Defendant evaded more than 1 million dollars in taxes on income earned abroad and impeded the investigation Date: Feb. 5, 2024 Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov A Texas man was sentenced today to 41 months in prison for evading his taxes by not reporting income he earned while working overseas. According to court documents and statements made in court, from 2013 to 2018, Peter Joseph Tignini, formerly of Cypress, Texas, worked in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, earning over $4,750,000 in income. For tax years 2013 through 2017, Tignini filed false tax returns that claimed that his income was only approximately $100,000 each year. The amount Tignini reported each year was near or below the amount that U.S. citizens who live and work abroad for most of a year can exclude from their taxable income on their U.S. tax return. Tignini did not file a return for 2018. As a result, Tignini caused a tax loss to the IRS of $1,169,348. Following an interview with federal law enforcement, Tignini altered his employment contract and payroll documents to make it appear that his former employer, not Tignini himself, was responsible for failing to report the income and pay the tax. Tignini then caused his attorneys to provide the false documents to the Justice Department’s Tax Division and the IRS. After investigators asked a witness about the online program Tignini used to create the phony documents, Tignini attempted to delete the documents from his account. In addition to the term of imprisonment, U.S. District Court Judge George C. Hanks ordered Tignini to serve three years of supervised release and to pay $1,169,348.60 in restitution to the United States. Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg of the Justice Department’s Tax Division, U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani for the Southern District of Texas and Special Agent in Charge Ramsey E. Covington of IRS-Criminal Investigation Houston Field Office made the announcement. IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case. Senior Litigation Counsel Sean Beaty and Trial Attorney Brian Flanagan of the Tax Division, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Adam Goldman for the Southern District of Texas are prosecuting the case.
