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Estimated reading time: 1 minute, 42 seconds

Justice Seeks to Shut Down Early Bird Preparer

Mo Money logoThe Department of Justice has asked a federal court to shut down a tax office in Nashville, Tenn., that allegedly prepared returns before tax season started. An injunction is being sought against Mo' Money Taxes licensee Toney Fields and co-defendant, Trumekia Shaw, who allegedly prepared tax returns based on pay stubs. It was only the latest in a string of problems and allegations surrounding the Mo Money tax preparation chain.

The two allegedly opened their office in December and utilized end-of-year pay stubs to prepare returns before employers issued W-2 forms in violation of rules of the Internal Revenue Service. They also are accused of creating fake W-2s to file with returns and of inflating or claiming fax tax credits, including the earned-income credit, in order to get larger refunds for their customers, along with utilizing false filing statuses and bogus charitable contributions. The IRS estimates it lost more than $15 million in tax revenue on more than 1,100 returns prepared in 2011.

 

It's not the only Mo Money office with problems. Earlier this year, Jimi Clark of Memphis, who owned the St. Louis franchise, and four of his preparers were charged with falsely claiming educational credits on 47 tax returns filed in 2009. There are news reports of customers in Memphis who say the refund checks they got from the operation bounced. Similar complaints about offices in Richmond and Hanover, Va., were published during tax season. During the summer, a Congressional committee investigating filing fraud heard testimony from some who said they had been victimized by the chain. The company was invited to testify, but was not summoned, and no one from Mo Money appeared. Allegations of problems have also been made against the chain in Mississippi.

Chain co-owners Markey Granberry and Derrick Robinson reportedly were selling the business, which has been noted for its high energy commercials, to investors that were formerly operators of Mo Money stores, including about six locations that closed in Norfolk, Va., in February. Meanwhile, the founders said they would open a tax preparation firm called Marquis Taxes.


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