DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE SUES TO HALT ALLEGED FRAUDULENT TAX RETURN BUSINESS BASED IN FLORIDA

Complaint Contends That Returns Prepared And Filed By Defendants May Have Cost The Treasury More Than $33 Million

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department today asked a federal court to bar Jose A. Fernandez, Alicia C. Burgos, and Economy Legal Services, Inc. also doing business as Economy Income Tax Services II all of Orlando, Florida, from preparing federal income tax returns. The complaint, filed in the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida, in Orlando, alleges that Fernandez and Bugos prepared customers’ tax returns that claimed fictitious or improper deductions and improper filing status.

The complaint alleges that Fernandez and Bugos reduce or eliminate their customers’ income tax liabilities by improperly deducting personal expenses, such as the cost of a wedding. The government projects that the allegedly fraudulent actions of Fernandez and Bugos, who have prepared thousands of returns since 2000, have cost the United States more than $33 million.

“The Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue Service are working energetically to halt the preparation and filing of false and fraudulent income tax returns,@ said Eileen J. O=Connor, Assistant Attorney General for the Tax Division. “People who prepare returns claiming false deductions are cheating honest taxpayers and creating legal problems for their customers.”

The complaint also seeks an order requiring the defendants to provide the Justice Department the names, Social Security numbers, addresses, e-mail addresses, and telephone numbers of their customers.

More information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division can be found at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax.

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