Federal Court Bars Wichita Tax Return Preparer From Preparing Tax Returns For Others

A federal court in Wichita, Kansas, permanently barred Ma Guadalupe Valenzuela (a/k/a Maria Guadalupe Valenzuela a/k/a Lupe Valenzuela, individually and doing business as Servicio de Income Tax) from preparing federal income tax returns for others. The civil injunction order, to which Valenzuela agreed, was signed by Judge Broomes, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas.  

In its complaint, the government alleged that Valenzuela unlawfully understated her customers’ income tax liabilities and overstated her customers’ refunds. Valenzuela prepared federal tax returns that lowered her customers’ federal tax liabilities by claiming bogus child tax credits, improper dependency exemptions, and false filing statuses, according to the allegations in the complaint.

Return preparer fraud was one of the IRS’s Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2018 and taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant. The IRS has some tips on their website for choosing a return preparer and has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers.

In the past decade, the Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s 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.