A federal court in Miami, Florida, permanently barred Georgina Gonzalez and GeorginagonzalezLLC, Ideal Tax Pros LLC, and Trinity Tax Service LLC, from preparing federal tax returns for others and owning or operating a tax preparation business, the Justice Department announced today. The court also ordered that Gonzalez and Trinity Tax Service LLC disgorge $48,214.30, representing the ill-gotten gains that they received for the preparation of tax returns making false claims.
The government’s complaint alleged that the defendants prepared tax returns that included fraudulent claims for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) based on fabricated income or business expenses. The complaint further alleged that defendants prepared returns for some customers that reported bogus “Household Help” work income, and returns claiming phony business loss deductions so as to falsely maximize their customers’ claim to the EITC. The complaint also alleged that defendants falsely claimed education credits on the tax returns of customers who did not attend college and had no qualifying education expenses.
The court’s disgorgement determination is based on ill-gotten gains stemming from tax returns filed in 2018 that falsely claimed either “Household Help” income, self-employed business income or expenses, or the EITC.
Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’ Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2019 and taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant. The IRS has information on its website about selecting a return preparer and has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers.
