A federal court in the Southern District of Texas has permanently enjoined a Houston-area tax return preparer from preparing federal tax returns for others and from owning, operating, or franchising any tax return preparation business in the future.
In its order, the court found that Hollins Ray Alexander engaged in conduct that substantially interferes with the proper administration of the tax laws, warranting a permanent bar on acting as a tax return preparer for others. As alleged in the complaint, Alexander prepared tax returns for others in which he overstated customers’ refunds by fabricating deductions or falsely claiming credits to which customers were not entitled. Although Alexander failed to respond to the government’s motion for an injunction, the court found that the record and applicable law warrant the entry of the injunction. The terms of the injunction require that Alexander send notices of the injunction to each person for whom he prepared federal tax returns and to post the injunctions in places where he conducts business, including social media accounts and websites. The injunction permits the United States to conduct post-judgment discovery to monitor Alexander’s compliance. The court also required Alexander to disgorge the sum of $165,940 to the United States in tax preparation fees.
Deputy Assistant Attorney General David A. Hubbert of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.
Shady tax return preparers remain a concern of the IRS, which recently warned taxpayers about unscrupulous tax return preparers are part of the IRS’s Dirty Dozen series. Taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant against unscrupulous tax preparers. The IRS has information on its website for choosing a tax return preparer and has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers. The IRS also offers 10 tips to avoid tax season fraud and ways to safeguard their personal information.
In the past decade, the Department of Justice 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 on this page