Justice Department Sues to Shut Down Alabama Tax Return Preparers

The United States has requested that the federal district court in Montgomery, Ala., permanently bar Tonja Renee Toney and Jenika Williams from preparing federal income tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today.

According to the complaint, which was filed yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama, Toney and Williams each prepared tax returns as employees of Premier Tax in Montgomery in 2007 and 2008, and both pleaded guilty to charges related to their work at Premier Tax.  The complaint further alleges that both prepared false and fraudulent tax returns after being interviewed by Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents in connection with their activities at Premier Tax.

The complaint alleges that both defendants have knowingly prepared federal income tax returns for customers that understated the customers’ tax liability by reporting false income in order to inflate the taxpayer’s claim to an Earned Income Tax Credit.

Return-preparer fraud is one of the IRS’   Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2014 .  The IRS has some tips on their website   for choosing a tax preparer.  In the past decade, the Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of fraudulent tax preparers.  Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department   website .   An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found on   this page .  If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the   Tax Division   with details.

Related Materials:

United States v. Tonja Renee Toney, et al.
Complaint for Permanent Injunction