Permanently Banned From Preparing Tax Returns

Posted on December 09, 2014

The Department of Justice recently announced that the U.S. District Court for the Middle District in Florida has permanently barred Jeanne Cobington and her company from preparing federal income tax returns for others.

The lawsuit alleged that Ms. Covington prepared tax returns that unlawfully understated income tax liability and overstated the refunds, including tax credits and education credits.

The government estimates that Ms. Covington’s activities have caused millions of dollars in loss to the U.S. Treasury. The DOJ website has a page dedicated to working with the IRS to shut down fraudulent tax return preparers and tax schemes and provides an alphabetical list of injunctions obtained by the Tax Division against preparers and promoters over the past twelve years as well as contact information about how to report violations.

If you are a regular reader of our blog, you have read about the IRS’ efforts to stop the filing of fraudulent tax returns. If you have worked with an accountant who promises tax refunds to you regardless of your income, it is likely that the tax return that person prepared is incorrect.In that event, the IRS can later come after you, not only for the false refund you obtained, but also for the tax liability that should have been reported on the tax return when filed.

If this has happened to you, call us, we can help.