U.S. COURT BARS ST. LOUIS MAN FROM PREPARING TAX RETURNS FOR OTHERS

Tax Preparer Allegedly Based False Deductions on Fictitious Businesses

WASHINGTON – David O’Bryant of St. Louis has been permanently barred from preparing federal income tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. Judge Donald J. Stohr of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri found that O’Bryant repeatedly had engaged in misconduct subject to various penalties under federal tax laws.

According to the government’s complaint, O’Bryant prepared tax returns that contained improper deductions and credits, in some cases based on fictitious businesses. The government alleged that O’Bryant had prepared approximately 1,165 returns since 2002 that caused an estimated loss to the U.S. Treasury of more than $2 million.

O’Bryant is required by the court to notify all customers for whom he prepared returns since 2002 of the judge’s order. In addition, O’Bryant must give the Justice Department a list of his customers’ names, addresses, e-mail addresses, and Social Security numbers.

Since 2001, the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained more than 300 injunctions to stop the promotion of tax fraud schemes and the preparation of fraudulent returns. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department website http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/taxpress2007.htm, as is information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division.