FEDERAL COURT BARS TENNESSEE MAN FROM PROMOTING HOME-BUSINESS TAX SCAM

Court finds Daniel Gleason Made Repeated False Claims to Induce Customers to Buy “Tax Toolbox”

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Eileen J. O’Connor, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division, announced today that a federal court in Nashville has ordered Daniel Gleason, of Franklin, Tennessee, to stop selling the “Tax Toolbox.” In barring Gleason from promoting the program, the court found that Gleason falsely told customers that they could claim federal income tax deductions for such non-deductible personal expenses as travel, meals, golf, cars, medical expenses, and children’s allowances. The court also found that Gleason made “repeated false claims to induce customers to buy the Tax Toolbox,” including giving a false “customer testimonial” from one of Gleason’s salespersons.

The court order requires Gleason to provide the Justice Department with any records identifying the persons who purchased the Tax Toolbox and to provide his customers with a copy of the order. Gleason and those working with him also must post the injunction order prominently on their websites. The same court earlier this year enjoined Gleason from misrepresenting his qualifications to customers. At that time, the court found that he had made a number of false claims, including that he was a lawyer and a professor of business law and federal taxation. The earlier order is available at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/txdv04130.htm.

“Stopping the promotion of tax scams is a top priority for the Tax Division,” said Eileen J. O’Connor, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division. She thanked Michael R. Pahl, the Justice Department trial attorney who handled the case, and the Internal Revenue Service’s Small Business/Self-Employed Division, which investigated it.

The Justice Department has sought and obtained injunctions recently against a number of tax-scam promoters. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department website at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/taxpress2004.htm. In addition, sham home businesses are included in the Internal Revenue Service’s list of the “Dirty Dozen” tax scams. The list is available at http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=120803,00.html.