Federal Court Permanently Bars San Antonio Manfrom Preparing Tax Returns

WASHINGTON – A federal court has barred Eddie Madrigal of San Antonio and his business, Madrigal Tax Express Inc., from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. The permanent injunction order, to which Madrigal consented, was entered by Chief Judge Fred Biery of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.

The government complaint alleged that Madrigal and his firm prepared tax returns for their customers that claimed false and exaggerated business deductions, false earned income tax credits and improper miscellaneous itemized deductions. According to the complaint, Madrigal and his business, which has three locations in San Antonio, prepared approximately 28,000 returns from 2005 to 2007. The government further alleged that Madrigal Tax Express prepared approximately 9,000 returns in 2007 and that, of the returns that were audited by the Internal Revenue Service for that year, more than 93 percent understated the customers’ tax liabilities.

In the last decade, the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained hundreds of injunctions to stop tax-fraud promoters and unscrupulous tax-return preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department website.