Federal Court Permanently Bars Detroit-Area Tax Preparer from Preparing Federal Tax Returns

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan has issued an order permanently barring Mia Jordan, a Southfield, Michigan, tax preparer, from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today.  Jordan consented to the civil injunction order.

According to the complaint, Jordan operated a business that provided tax return preparation support services under the name MIA-FILE as recently as 2014.  The complaint states that Jordan, through MIA-FILE, prepared approximately 371 tax returns for tax processing years 2013 and 2014.  The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) closed examinations on 94 of the tax returns prepared by MIA-FILE, and 87, or 95 percent, of those examined returns resulted in additional tax assessments, the complaint alleges.  Many of the returns that Jordan prepared for customers allegedly contained false deductions and credits, including inflated deductions for charitable contributions, home mortgage interest and real estate taxes.  The complaint also states that the returns manipulated taxpayer data for the purposes of claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit, for which the customer would otherwise be ineligible. 

The United States alleged in the complaint that the actual purpose of MIA-FILE was to permit Jordan’s cousin, Nataki Davis, formerly known as Nataki Barnes, to continue to prepare tax returns herself and together with Jordan, despite an IRS investigation into Davis’s own abusive tax return preparation practices.  In June 2013, Davis was enjoined for a period of five years from preparing tax returns either individually or through any individual or entity working in concert with her.  On Jan. 8, 2016, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan entered an agreed injunction order permanently barring Davis from preparing returns.

Return preparer fraud is one of the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2016.  The IRS has some tips on their website for choosing a tax 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 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.