COURT HALTS PREPARATION OF FRIVOLOUS TAX RETURNS
IN EAST CLEVELAND

Return Preparer Omits His Customers’ Wage Income

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department announced today that a federal court has barred Michael A. Allamby of East Cleveland, Ohio from preparing federal tax returns and representing people before the IRS. Judge Solomon Oliver, Jr., of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio, also ordered Allamby to notify his current and prospective customers of the court’s order and to provide the government with a list of his return-preparation customers containing their names, addresses, and taxpayer identification numbers.

According to the court, Allamby incorrectly interprets the IRS instructions to certain federal tax forms as requiring individuals to report their wages as income only if they invested the wages to earn income on them. In its order (called a preliminary injunction), the court found that Allamby has been preparing tax returns that report zero income, even though many of his Cleveland-area customers have earned wages. The court noted that Allamby does not dispute that he prepares tax returns in this manner and that he has continued doing so despite being warned by the IRS that federal law classifies wages as income subject to taxation.

In prior court filings, the Justice Department alleged that Allamby also conducts “training courses” and has published a book entitled To the Best of My Knowledge and Belief, through which he promotes the preparation of tax returns that report zero income for wage earners. The government has also alleged that it has identified nearly 70 frivolous tax returns prepared by Allamby.

“People who prepare or file false tax returns risk serious civil sanctions and, where appropriate, criminal prosecution,” said Eileen J. O’Connor, Assistant Attorney General for the Tax Division, Department of Justice. “The Justice Department and the IRS are working vigorously to identify and stop tax evasion schemes.”

More information on this case is available at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/txdv04508.htm. Information regarding the Tax Division’s efforts in other injunction cases is available at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/taxpress2004.htm.

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