Federal Court Prohibits Three Florida Tax Preparers and Their Businesses from Preparing Tax Returns for Others

A federal court has barred three Florida men from preparing federal tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today.

The civil injunction order, to which Geto Dorlizier, Lival Gourdet and Jourmel Thomas consented, was signed by U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.  The order also bars the businesses the defendants were operating — Atlantic Multi Services LLC, Authentic Financial Services LLC, and JTS Paperworks and Tax Services Inc. — from preparing federal tax returns for others.

According to the complaint, the defendants prepared federal income tax returns for customers that understated the tax that was due or overstated customers’ refunds by improperly claiming fuel tax credits, education credits and earned income tax credits.  Of the returns the defendants prepared for tax years 2009 through 2012 that were examined by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), all returns contained false or frivolous tax credits or deductions.  The injunction requires the defendants to provide the government with a list of all customers for whom they have prepared federal tax returns since Jan. 1, 2009.

Dorlizier and Thomas previously were sentenced to serve 111 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release and 61 months in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release, respectively, following their guilty pleas to aggravated identity theft, among other crimes, for their participation in a scheme to commit stolen identity tax refund fraud.  Dorlizier and Thomas obtained identifying information on individuals, filed fraudulent tax returns on their behalf, and then cashed U.S. Treasury checks they received using these stolen identities, according to the suit.  As part of their plea agreements, Dorlizier and Thomas agreed to be permanently enjoined from preparing tax returns for others. 

Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’ Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2015.  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 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 here.  If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details.