August 20, 2021 - A federal court in the Northern District of Illinois has permanently enjoined a Chicago, Illinois, tax return preparer from preparing returns for others and from owning or operating any tax return preparation business in the future.

The civil complaint filed in the case alleged that Lennette Roberts and her company, Real Counseling Solution Inc., which did business under the assumed name RR Tax and Accounting, prepared fraudulent federal income tax returns. According to the complaint, defendants prepared returns that made false and fraudulent claims including: (1) false itemized deductions; (2) fabricated losses for non-existent businesses; (3) false or inflated earned income tax credits; and (4) false head-of-household filing statuses (which results in a lower rate as compared to single filing status).

According to the court’s order, Lennette Roberts and her company consented to entry of the injunction, which permits the United States to conduct full post-judgment discovery to monitor compliance. The order requires that Roberts (1) send notice of the injunction to each person for whom she and her company prepared federal tax returns, other tax forms, or claims for refund after Jan. 1, 2018, and (2) post an electronic copy of the injunction on any business social media profile currently maintained or created over the next five years.

Acting Assistant Attorney General David A. Hubbert of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.

Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’ Dirty Dozen Tax Scams and taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant. (More information can also be found here.) The IRS has information on its website for choosing a tax preparer, has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers, and offers information on how to avoid “ghost” tax preparers, whose refusal to sign a return should be a red flag to taxpayers. 

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 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.

Source: DOJ Release