A Miami, Fla.-based tax preparer, who had been barred from the tax business, must pay $403,967.70 to a federal court for violating that order. The preparer, She was hit with the contempt citation after an August 18 hearing founded that the United States has proved she continue to prepare returns in violation of the original order.
Espinal was barred on Feb. 16, 2011 after the U.S. alleged she had prepared returns utilizing fraudulent medical expenses, charitable contributions and unreimbursed employee business expenses. A review by the Internal Revenue Service found errors in 97 percent of the returns it examined that were prepared by Espinal.
A federal court based a fine based on a government demonstration that $393,280 reasonably approximated the amount of money she made on the returns. The remaining $8,689.75 covers costs the government incurred in investigating and litigating the case.
