Justice Department Asks Federal Court to Shut Down Louisiana Tax Preparer

The United States has sued Larry Carnell Dixon Sr., seeking to bar him and his business, Dixon’s Tax Service, from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today.

The civil injunction complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana, alleges that Dixon, of Zachary, La., prepares federal income tax returns for customers claiming fabricated and inflated business expense deductions for existing or fictitious businesses. The lawsuit alleges that Dixon fraudulently uses these fabricated business expenses to decrease his customers’ tax liabilities or increase their refunds, including refunds arising from the earned income tax credit.

According to the complaint, an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) investigation revealed that 194 of the 198 income tax returns prepared by Dixon’s Tax Service and audited by the IRS resulted in tax deficiencies. The lawsuit alleges that the tax harm caused by Dixon’s misconduct could be as much as $39 million.

The complaint also asks the court to require Dixon to provide the government with a list of all customers for whom Dixon’s Tax Service prepared returns after Jan. 1, 2006.

In the past decade, the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained hundreds of 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.

Complaint for Permanent Injunction (PDF)