Justice Department Files Civil Action to Shut Down Chicago-Area Tax Return Preparer

The United States has filed a complaint seeking to bar a Chicago-area tax return preparer from preparing federal income tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today.

The civil complaint against Lavon Boyd was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois and alleges that Boyd prepared federal income tax returns for Chicago-area taxpayers that significantly understated his customers’ tax liabilities by fabricating business losses. The suit alleges that Boyd fabricated or exaggerated his customers’ business expenses. The suit also charges that Boyd allegedly fabricated child care expenses on at least one of his customers’ tax returns.

According to the complaint, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) interviewed 15 of Boyd’s customers, each of whom stated that they did not incur the business expenses reported on their returns prepared by Boyd on their behalf, nor did they give Boyd any reason to believe that such expenses were legitimate. The complaint further alleges that, by repeatedly understating his customers’ tax liabilities, Boyd has caused the United States to lose substantial tax revenue.

Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’ Dirty Dozen Tax Scams and taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant (more information can also be found here). The IRS has information on its website for choosing a tax preparer and has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers. In addition, IRS Free File, a public-private partnership, offers free, online tax preparation and filing options on IRS-partner websites for individuals whose adjusted gross income is under $72,000. For individuals whose income is over that threshold, IRS Free File offers electronic federal tax forms that can be filled out and filed online for free.

In the past decade, the Department of Justice's 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.