Source: United States Department of Justice News
The United States filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against Javier Campos; David DePablo; Krystallee Gonzalez; Alvaro Jauregui; Katya Rojas; Patricia Vanegas; JBC Tax Services LLC; WK Tax Services Inc.; Cutler Bay Tax Services Inc.; N.L.T.S., Inc. doing business as Naranja Lakes Tax Services Inc.; and Tax Services Group Corp. The civil complaint seeks to enjoin the defendants from preparing federal income tax returns for others. The complaint also requests that the court require Campos and the businesses he controls to disgorge the fees they obtained by preparing federal tax returns that make grossly incompetent, negligent, reckless, and/or fraudulent claims.
The civil complaint alleges that, from 2019 through 2022, the defendants prepared at least 12,000 tax returns annually. The complaint further alleges that Campos and the other defendants, using a variety of schemes, prepared tax returns that understate their customers’ tax liability and overstate their claimed refunds. The complaint alleges that the defendants prepared customers’ returns that included various false or fabricated deductions and credits, including:
- fabricated residential energy credits;
- fictitious deductions and credits for education expenses, including tuition and fees;
- false COVID-19 sick and family leave credits; and,
- bogus uncommon deductions, including for rental of personal property, unlawful discrimination claims, and reforestation amortization and expenses.
According to the complaint, Campos and the other defendants’ pattern of conduct has resulted in the issuance of inflated refunds to taxpayers and the loss of significant federal tax revenue.
Deputy Assistant Attorney General David A. Hubbert of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.
Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’s Dirty Dozen Tax Scams and taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant against unscrupulous tax preparers. The IRS has information on its website for choosing a tax return preparer and has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers. The IRS also offers 10 tips to avoid tax season fraud and ways to safeguard their personal information.
In the past decade, the Department of Justice 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.