FEDERAL COURT BARS MICHIGAN TAX-RETURN PREPARERS FROM PREPARING RETURNS FOR OTHERS

Fort Worth Man Allegedly Prepares False Income Tax Returns

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A federal judge in Kalamazoo, Mich. has barred Joyce M. Stone and Charles J. Freed, both of Hillsdale, Michigan, from preparing income tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. U.S. Judge Richard Alan Enslen entered the preliminary injunction order, which also bars Stone, Freed and their company, Stone and Associates, from aiding or assisting others in the preparation of income tax returns and from engaging in any other conduct that substantially interferes with the enforcement of the internal revenue laws.

According to the government’s filings, Stone and Freed prepare customers’ income tax returns claiming improper deductions, including improper deductions for fictitious or inflated charitable contributions and employee expenses. The government alleged that, acting either individually or through their business, Stone and Freed prepared income tax returns for about 1,000 clients. The court found “compelling” the affidavits of several former clients of Stone and Freed, several of whom said that they had no idea how the defendants determined the amount of certain deductions claimed on their returns.

The order did not apply to a third defendant, Julie Shaffer, against whom the government did not move for preliminary injunctive relief. More information about this case, including a copy of the Government’s original complaint, is available at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/txdv06118.htm.

Since 2001, the Justice Department has obtained injunctions against more than 200 tax return preparers and tax fraud promoters. More information about these cases is available at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/taxpress2006.htm. More information about the Tax Division is available at: http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/index.html.