Federal and International

Justice Department Files Lawsuit to Stop Pennsylvania Man from Preparing Federal Tax Returns


Washington, DC—(ENEWSPF)—April 8, 2014. The United States filed a civil lawsuit today in Pittsburgh federal court to permanently bar Larry E. Snow, of Seward, Pa., from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Department of Justice and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced today.

In February 2012, Snow pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation of false and fraudulent individual income tax returns and was later sentenced to six months of home detention and three years of probation.  The civil complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania today alleges that Snow repeatedly prepared returns with false deductions for medical expenses, personal property taxes, charitable contributions and unreimbursed employee expenses.  He allegedly maintained a list he referred to as “IRS Gimmies,” which were items he instructed his employees to report on each return prepared in his accounting practice, regardless of whether the client was entitled to them.   

The IRS estimates that Snow’s fraudulent return preparation for one year alone cost the U.S. Treasury over $1.3 million in lost tax revenue.

Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’ Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2013.  The IRS has some tips on their website for choosing a tax preparer.  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.

Source: justice.gov

 


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