JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SUES TO BAR FATHER AND DAUGHTER FROM PREPARING TAX RETURNS

Wichita-Based Father and Dallas-Based Daughter Allegedly Claim Bogus Deductions

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department filed suit today to stop Harrold E. Jones and Evelyn Johnson from preparing tax returns for others. The civil complaint, filed in federal court in Wichita, alleges that the father-and-daughter team—who do business as Evelyn’s Secretarial and Tax Service—have repeatedly created fictitious businesses that they have used to fraudulently inflate customers’ tax deductions.

According to the complaint filed in the case, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has audited a sample of more than 5,000 customer returns that Jones and Johnson prepared for tax years 1999 through 2003. The complaint states that 97 percent of the audits resulted in additional taxes owed. False and fraudulent returns the pair prepared have cost the federal treasury more than $12 million, according to an IRS estimate contained in the complaint. Jones has been preparing tax returns for about 50 years. According to the complaint, Jones lives in Wichita, while Johnson recently moved from Wichita to Dallas, where she is preparing returns using the name ASAP Speedee Tax Service.

“The Justice Department and the IRS are committed to protecting the interests of honest taxpayers by enforcing our nation’s tax laws,” said Eileen J. O’Connor, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division. “People should choose their tax return preparers carefully and should review their returns for truthfulness.”

This case is part of the Justice Department’s initiative to stop the promotion of tax-fraud schemes. Since 2001, the Justice Department has sought and obtained injunctions against more than a hundred tax-scam promoters and preparers of false or fraudulent returns. Information about these cases is available at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/taxpress2005.htm. Information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division can be found at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/index.html.