ILLINOIS TAX PREPARER BARRED FROM PREPARING FEDERAL TAX RETURNS FOR OTHERS

WASHINGTON – A federal court has permanently barred Irma Melendez, a former Mundelein, Ill., tax return preparer, from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. Melendez consented to the injunction.

The government complaint alleged that Melendez, who operated a business called “Income Tax Service,” prepared more than 2,200 federal income tax returns from 2002 through 2005. According to the complaint, based on the examination of 224 returns, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) determined that Melendez inflated employee business expenses, including falsifying business mileage, meals and uniforms as business expenses, and inflated improvements to rental properties.

“The government is committed to stopping tax return preparers who inflate or falsify expenses for their customers,” said Nathan J. Hochman, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department’s Tax Division. “Since 2001, the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained injunctions against more than 360 tax return preparers and tax-fraud promoters.”

Assistant Attorney General Hochman thanked trial attorney Lisa Bellamy and IRS revenue agent Joseph Conroy who handled the injunction case for the government.

Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department website, as is information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division.