Federal Court Shuts Down South Florida Tax Return Preparer

A federal court in Miami has permanently barred Kenia Marrero of Miami, and her company, Kenia Immigration Services, from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. The civil injunction order, to which Marrero consented without admitting the allegations against her, was signed by Judge José E. Martinez of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

The government complaint in the case alleged that Marrero prepared federal income tax returns for customers that fraudulently understated their tax liabilities by using fabricated deductions, business expenses, and first-time-homebuyer credits. The complaint alleged that Marrero offered immigration services, including obtaining work permits and visas, and used that customer base to obtain tax-preparation customers. According to the complaint, the harm to the United States from Marrero’s misconduct could be as much as $1.4 million.

The Internal Revenue Service lists return preparer fraud as one of the Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2012 . In the past decade the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained hundreds of injunctions to stop the promotion of tax-fraud schemes and the preparation of fraudulent returns. More information about these cases is available on the Justice Department website .