JUSTICE DEPARTMENT SUES TO SHUT DOWN MISSOURI TAX PREPARER

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department today asked a federal court to bar Donald R. Bushnell of Kansas City, Missouri, from preparing federal income tax returns for others. The civil injunction lawsuit, filed today in Kansas City, alleges that Bushnell, who operates his return-preparation business under the name Bushnell Contract Labor Services, has repeatedly prepared tax returns claiming false business deductions.

According to the complaint, Bushnell during a five-year period prepared at least 970 income tax returns that, on average, understated customers’ taxes by $4,000 per return. Court papers alleged that in one instance, Bushnell claimed more than $83,000 in phony business losses on a married couple’s return without informing them he had done so. The Government alleges that the couple never told Bushnell they had a business.

“The IRS and Justice Department are working vigorously to stop the preparation of fraudulent returns,” said Eileen J. O’Connor, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division. “If you have someone prepare your return, you must insist on reviewing it before it is filed.”

This case is part of an ongoing crackdown on fraudulent return preparers. The Justice Department has obtained injunction against more than 170 return preparers and tax-fraud promoters 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.