JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SUES TO BAR FLORIDA CPA FROM PROMOTING TAX FRAUD SCHEME & PREPARING TAX RETURNS FOR OTHERS

Naples Tax Preparer Allegedly Fabricates Deductions

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department announced today that it has filed suit in federal court in Ft. Myers, Fla., seeking to permanently bar Max Holcher from promoting an alleged tax-fraud scheme that he calls “Tax Engineering” and from preparing federal income tax returns for others. According to the civil injunction suit, filed in federal court in Ft. Myers, Holcher operates Holcher & Company and Holcher CPA Group.

According to the government’s complaint, Holcher helps customers claim improper tax deductions for such non-deductible personal expenses as home maintenance expenses, swimming pool expenses, vacations, and personal vehicles. Holcher allegedly also prepares tax returns for customers that falsely report employment income as a royalty in order to evade Social Security taxes.

The suit alleges that Holcher has prepared at least 169 federal tax returns for customers since 1999. The complaint alleges that four of these customers went to different CPAs who determined that Holcher had understated the customers’ taxes by a total of $181,396, an average of $45,484 per customer. According to the government’s complaint, assuming the same average harm per customer, Holcher’s scheme may have cost the Treasury as much as $7.6 million.

The suit also asks the court to require Holcher to provide the government with a list of his customers’ names, addresses, e-mail addresses, phone numbers and Social Security numbers.

Since 2001, the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained more than 215 injunctions to stop the promotion of tax fraud schemes and the preparation of fraudulent returns. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department Web site at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/taxpress2006.htm. More information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division can be found at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax.