Today, the United States filed a case with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas to prevent a tax preparer in the Houston region from filing federal income tax returns for others.
The lawsuit was filed against Jonathan Perry, both as a person and as X-Pert Tax Services and JONATHAN PERRY. During 2017-2022, more than 4,000 federal income tax forms were allegedly submitted with the IRS using electronic filing identification numbers granted to Perry by the IRS.
In a considerable number of these tax forms, the defendants allegedly fabricated employee business costs, home assistance income, company losses, and/or improperly claimed education credits and gasoline excise tax credits to which the customers were ineligible.
By routinely understating his clients’ tax responsibilities, Perry and his tax preparation firms lost the United States an estimated $4,450,000 in tax revenue from 2017 to 2022, according to the lawsuit.
The statement was delivered by Deputy Assistant Attorney General David A. Hubbert of the Tax Division of the Justice Department.
Return preparation fraud is one of the IRS’s Dirty Dozen Tax Scams, and people in search of a return preparer should be alert. (You may find further information here.)
The IRS has developed a free list of federal tax preparers and provides advice on how to avoid “ghost” tax preparers, whose failure to sign a tax return should serve as a red signal for taxpayers. In addition, the IRS provides a reminder list for submitting income tax returns in 2022.
Additionally, IRS Free File, a public-private partnership, provides free online tax preparation and filing alternatives on IRS partner websites for taxpayers with an adjusted gross income of less than $73,000.
Individuals with a higher income qualify for IRS Free File, which provides electronic federal tax forms that may be submitted online for free. The IRS provides information on how seniors and those with low to moderate incomes may get additional tax preparation assistance or counselling.
The Tax Division has secured injunctions against hundreds of unethical tax preparers over the last decade. There is information on these cases on the website of the Department of Justice.
This article is an alphabetical directory of those prohibited from drafting tax returns and advocating tax methods. If you suspect that one of the enjoined individuals or corporations is breaching an injunction, please provide specifics to the Tax Division.