The Justice Department’s Tax Division filed a civil injunction suit today to permanently bar Nia Daniel and her tax return preparation business, Nia Help Service LLC, from preparing federal income tax returns for others.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, alleges that Daniel prepared over 2,000 federal income tax returns from 2020 through 2024 and that she employed a variety of schemes to understate her customers’ tax liabilities and overstate the refunds to which they were entitled. The complaint alleges that Daniel made up false businesses on customers’ returns, knowingly reported fake or inflated business expenses and fraudulently claimed various credits like the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, American Opportunity Credit and Residential Energy Credit – usually without customers’ knowledge. The complaint goes on to explain that Daniels falsified customers’ income and filing statuses to increase the amount of the Earned Income Tax Credit.
According to the complaint, the United States has been harmed by Daniel’s conduct, resulting in the significant loss in tax revenue of more than $500,000 in 2023 alone. In addition to seeking an injunction, the government requests an order of disgorgement to prevent Daniel and her business from profiting from their violation of the internal revenue laws.
Deputy Assistant Attorney General David A. Hubbert of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.
Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’s Dirty Dozen Tax Scams and taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant against dishonest 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 guidance on the credentials and qualifications that taxpayers should seek from their return preparer.
In the past decade, the Justice Department’s 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