Federal Court Prohibits Florida Tax Preparer from Preparing Tax Returns for Others

A federal court in Tampa, Florida, has permanently barred a Bradenton, Florida, man from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today.

In April, the United States filed a civil complaint against Guy Riston Paul, individually and doing business as G7 Financial Enterprises & More, G7 Accounting and Tax Services and Voltaire Multi-Services.  Paul, who is currently serving a three-year prison term for engaging in the preparation of false tax returns and for failing to report income he earned from his tax preparation business, consented to entry of the injunction, but he did not admit the allegations in the United States’ complaint. 

According to the civil complaint, Paul prepared federal income tax returns for customers that overstated his customers’ refunds by taking the identities of dependents from customers who were not U.S. citizens and claiming them on the tax returns of his U.S. citizen customers.  Paul used this scheme to claim improper Earned Income Tax Credits and Child Tax Credits, the complaint alleges.  Paul also allegedly claimed other false credits, such as the education tax credit, on his customers’ returns. 

Return preparer fraud is one of the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2016.  The IRS has some tips on its website for choosing a tax preparer and has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers.  In the past decade, the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers and tax scheme promoters.  Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s 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.