3 Haitians barred from preparing US tax returns for others

Miami, Florida (CMC) — A United States federal court has barred three Haitian men from preparing federal tax returns for others.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) said that Geto Dorlizier, Lival Gourdet and Jourmel Thomas consented to the civil injunction order that was signed by US District Judge Kenneth A Marra.

The order also prohibits the businesses the defendants operate – Atlantic Multi Services LLC, Authentic Financial Services LLC, and JTS Paperworks and Tax Services Inc – from preparing federal tax returns for others.

According to the complaint, the Haitians prepared federal income tax returns for customers that understated the tax that was due or overstated customers refunds by improperly claiming fuel tax credits, education credits and earned income tax credits.

Of the returns the defendants prepared for tax years 2009 through 2012 that were examined by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), all returns contained false or frivolous tax credits or deductions, the DOJ said.

The injunction requires the defendants to provide the government with a list of all customers for whom they have prepared federal tax returns since January 1, 2009, the DOJ said.

Dorlizier and Thomas were previously sentenced to serve 11 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release and 61 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, respectively, the DOJ said.

It said they had pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft, among other crimes, for their participation in a scheme to commit stolen identity tax refund fraud.

Dorlizier and Thomas obtained identifying information on individuals, filed fraudulent tax returns on their behalf, and then cashed US Treasury checks they received using these stolen identities, according to the suit.

As part of their plea agreements, Dorlizier and Thomas agreed to be permanently enjoined from preparing tax returns for others, the DOJ said.

It said return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’s “Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2015”.