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Florida Preparer May Have Cost U.S. Millions

DOJ logoA tax preparer based in Kissimmee, Fla., has been permanently barred from preparing federal tax returns for others. Carlos A. Cabrera consented to the permanent injunction order without admitting the allegations against him. The government alleged its losses could be tens of millions of dollars for just two years of filed returns.

 

The allegations against Cabrera and his business, the Cabrera Financial Group, include claims he prepared more than 17,000 returns for 2009 and 2010 with an average understatement of $4,222 in tax for the returns examined by the Internal Revenue Service. The Justice Department press release and local news coverage did not state how many employees or preparers worked at the firm.

When IRS Agents raided the office late in the 2011 tax season, local television news quoted shocked customers as stating there were often waiting lines at the office ranging from 60 to 150 a day. One resident was quoted as saying lines would form by time she left for work at 6 a.m. each day and would still be there at night.

The Better Business Bureau this year gave the company an F rating and four complaints filed by customers this year recited allegations that the company would not answer its telephone. Two filers alleged that during an earlier tax season the preparer listed phony education credit claims on their returns. One reported facing payments to the IRS of $6,102. The other filer was facing an unstated amount of penalties and interest. A third taxpayer claimed that despite paying to have taxes prepared by and filed for 2012 by Cabrera’s Group, the IRS could find no record of a filing.

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