Court Bars South Florida Tax Return Preparersfrom Preparing Returns for Others

A federal district judge in Miami permanently barred Marlen Monzon, her son Yanko Rodriguez, and their Miami business, Tri Stars Multiservices Corporation, from preparing federal income tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today.

According to the government’s complaint, Monzon and Rodriguez prepared federal income tax returns in Miami through Tri Stars Multiservices, Corporation. As alleged, the returns prepared by Monzon and Rodriguez included fabricated claims for business expenses on customers’ returns even when the customers did not own or operate a business. The complaint further alleged that these fabricated expenses offset the customer’s wage income and improperly lowered the customer’s reported taxable income. These fabricated expenses generated (or increased) customers’ refunds, and often qualified customers for credits to which they were not entitled. The complaint alleged that nearly every one of the 498 returns that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) examined for tax years 2008 through 2011 claimed that the customer operated a business and reported a business loss. According to the complaint, the IRS has determined that the U.S. Treasury lost more than $3.4 million in revenue as a result of Monzon and Rodriguez’s misconduct.

Monzon, Rodriguez and Tri Stars consented to the entry of the injunction.

In the past 10 years the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of tax-return preparers and tax-fraud promoters. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department Website .

Related Materials:

United States v. Thomas G. Bandzul
Permanent Injunction (PDF)