JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SEEKS TO BAR ILLINOIS TAX PREPARERS FROM PREPARING FEDERAL TAX RETURNS FOR OTHERS

Complaint Alleges that Tax Preparers Inflated Deductions and Credits for Customers Resulting in Potential Loss to Treasury Exceeding $1 Million Per Year

WASHINGTON - The United States has filed a lawsuit against tax preparers Michael J. Singleton and his wife, Ladonna Singleton, seeking to bar them from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. The Singletons operate under the name ITA Services Inc. in Homewood, Ill.

The government complaint alleges that the Singletons have prepared federal income tax returns claiming fabricated or inflated deductions for their customers resulting in an understatement of their customers’ tax liabilities. As part of the scheme to reduce his customers’ tax liabilities, Mr. Singleton allegedly created false Schedule C businesses and false Schedule E rental properties for some of his customers.

The complaint, filed in the United States District Court in the Northern District of Illinois, alleges that the Singletons’ conduct interferes with the enforcement of the internal revenue laws and causes irreparable harm to the government and their customers. According to the complaint, the Singletons prepared more than 600 tax returns between tax years 2005 and 2007, with an estimated potential loss to the U.S. Treasury exceeding $1 million for per year.

“The government will not tolerate unscrupulous tax preparers running amuck in our system of voluntary compliance,” said Nathan J. Hochman, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Tax Division. “The government is committed to investigating allegations of fraudulent tax return preparation throughout the nation and, where appropriate, seeking a court order barring tax fraud promoters and preparers from peddling their schemes and scams. Since 2001, the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained injunctions against more than 365 tax return preparers and tax-fraud promoters.”

More information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division and its efforts to enjoin tax-fraud promoters and preparers is available at www.usdoj.gov/tax.