The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia has enjoined Andrea Nadel and her business, EZ Accounting & Tax Service LLC (EZ Accounting), along with Estelle Nadel, from preparing federal tax returns for others.
According to the United States’ complaint, Andrea Nadel, EZ Accounting, and Estelle Nadel prepared federal income tax returns that reported false Schedule A and Schedule C deductions in order to manipulate their customers’ claims for the Earned Income Tax Credit and reduce their taxable income. The complaint alleges that the defendants prepared returns that falsely claimed deductions for gifts to charity, unreimbursed employee expenses, tax preparation fees, and taxes paid, and that their practice of claiming these false deductions has resulted in significant lost tax revenues. As set out in the complaint, earlier this year, Andrea Nadel was indicted and pleaded guilty to aiding and assisting the preparation of a false tax return in violation of 26 U.S.C. § 7206(2).
Andrea Nadel, EZ Accounting, and Estelle Nadel agreed to entry of the permanent injunctions without admitting any factual allegations in the complaint.
Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’ Dirty Dozen Tax Scams 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.
In the past decade, the Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website. An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found on this page. If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details.
