FEDERAL COURT BARS GEORGIA MAN FROM PROMOTING “ABSURD” TAX SCHEME

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A federal court in Georgia has permanently barred Derrick Sanders of Atlanta from promoting a tax fraud scheme involving false claims, the Justice Department announced today. According to the government’s complaint, Sanders’ customers were advised they were not liable for income tax because they belonged to a purported Native American group, the so-called Yamassee Native American Tribe. The court noted that after it preliminarily enjoined Sanders in 2006 he “refused to back down from his absurd contention that the Yamassee are ... exempt from federal income taxes.”

The permanent injunction, entered by U.S. District Judge Julie E. Carnes, requires Sanders to post a copy of the court’s order on the Web site where he promotes the scheme.

According to the court, Sanders, in promoting the scheme, repeatedly made false statements that the Yamassee group is a Native American tribe whose members are exempt from federal income tax. Sanders also prepared forms for customers to use improperly to instruct their employers to stop withholding taxes from their wages. More information about this case is available at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/txdv05494.htm and http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/txdv06095.htm.

The Justice Department has obtained injunctions against 250 tax fraud promoters and tax preparers since 2001. 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.