Federal Court Prohibits Georgia Tax Preparers from Preparing Tax Returns for Others

A federal court in Columbus, Georgia, has permanently barred Natashia and Detrick Tucker and their business, T&T Express Tax, from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. 

The civil injunction order, to which the defendants consented, was signed by Chief Judge Clay D. Land of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia.

According to the complaint, the Tuckers prepared federal income tax returns for customers that understated the taxes due or generated inappropriate tax refunds.  The understatements were caused by improper earned income tax credits and education credits that the Tuckers claimed for their customers.  According to the complaint, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) examined 337 returns of the 2,239 returns prepared by the Tuckers for the tax years 2009 through 2011.  Of those returns, the IRS determined that adjustments were needed on more than 87 percent of the examined returns.

On Jan. 9, 2014, Natashia Tucker pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the United States in the assessment and collection of federal income taxes and Detrick Tucker pleaded guilty to aiding and assisting in the preparation of false tax returns.  Natashia Tucker was later sentenced to serve 46 months in federal prison and was ordered to pay $1,483,025 in restitution to the IRS.  Detrick Tucker was sentenced to serve 12 months and one day in federal prison and ordered to pay $66,235 in restitution to the IRS.

Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’s Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2014.  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.