'RHOA' Alum Peter Thomas Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison in Tax Case

Peter Thomas joins the growing list of reality star stars to get hit with jail time ... we've learned the "Real Housewives of Atlanta" alum has been hit with a sentence of a year and a half in prison.

A rep for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of North Carolina tells TMZ ... the Bravo personality, who appeared on 'RHOA' alongside then-wife Cynthia Bailey, has been sentenced to 18 months behind bars after pleading guilty to failing to pay his taxes.

Following this sentence, Peter will have 2 years of supervised release. Peter has also been ordered to pay $2.5 million in restitution to the IRS.

Peter pled guilty this summer to one count of failure to pay trust fund taxes ... after being accused of repeatedly evading paying the IRS between 2017 and 2023 -- for several of his businesses.

The restaurateur allegedly owed the IRS nearly $650,000 in trust fund taxes from his employees' wages in Charlotte, North Carolina. Yet, that's just a glimpse of Peter's tax woes ... he's been accused of failing to pay more than $2.5 million in employment taxes over a 6-year period from his businesses in various states.

When he finally reports to jail, Thomas will be placed in a facility as close to Miami as possible, will have access to educational and vocational programs and substance abuse treatment programs.

Prior to his sentencing, Peter posted a video update on Instagram ... where he advised young business owners to "please learn [from his] mistake."

In his message, he said he was willing to "face the music" for "consistently withholding taxes for business over 10 years."

As he continued, Peter admitted he thought he could rectify the situation by getting on a payment plan ... but learned the hard way that "it doesn't work like that."