A federal court has barred a Broward County, Fla., man from preparing federal tax returns for others. The government accused the individuals of claiming inflated and phony deductions, filing returns using stolen identities and charging clients exorbitant fees. The illegal activity was reported to have been occurred starting in 2008. Besides utilizing unwarranted claims for the First-time Homebuyer Credit and fabricating income for the Earned Income Tax Credit, the defendants were also accused of creating Schedule Cs for phony businesses and falsifying W-2 forms.
They allegedly charged as much as $5,000 for preparing basic returns at a time that it was reported the national average is $134 per return. The group also employed a number of tax businesses, such as Taxologists and Taxes in Miami Gardens, to attempt to hide their actions from the Internal Revenue Service. Their actions included jumbling identification numbers of preparers working for these organizations and of the companies.