Federal Court in California Shuts Down Tax Preparer

A federal court in Los Angeles has entered an order permanently barring Simon Jenkins from preparing federal income tax returns and other tax-related documents for others, the Justice Department announced today. Jenkins, who operated under the business name “Jenkins Tax Service” in Gardena , Calif., consented to the civil injunction order, which was signed by U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson.

The government complaint, filed on Feb. 1, 2013, alleged that Jenkins engaged in a pattern of claiming false deductions, false credits, false expenses, and false claims for refunds on behalf of his customers for the tax years 2004 through 2008, causing the government to incur a tax loss of $238,024 for those years.

In addition to barring Jenkins from preparing tax returns, Judge Pregerson also required Jenkins to contact his customers and inform them of the entry of the Permanent Injunction within thirty days.

As noted in the complaint, in a prior related criminal proceeding, Jenkins pleaded guilty to one count of aiding and assisting in the preparation and presentation of false income tax returns. According to the plea agreement, filed in the criminal case on June 15, 2011, Jenkins agreed to enter into a binding civil injunction, barring him for life from aiding or assisting in the preparation of federal income tax returns for anyone other than himself and his legal spouse, and barring him from representing persons before the Internal Revenue Service.

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

Related Materials:

United States v. Simon Jenkins
Complaint for Permanent Injunction and Other Relief (PDF)
Stipulated Order of Permanent Injunction (PDF)