Justice Department Seeks to Shut Down Georgia Tax Preparer for Fabricating Expenses and Credits

Note: View complaint here.

The Justice Department filed a complaint today to permanently bar tax preparer Tanja D. Hollis, of Griffin, Georgia, and her business, Tanja Tax Preparations LLC, from preparing federal tax returns for others.

The complaint, filed in a federal court in Newnan, Georgia, alleges that Hollis prepared and filed false federal tax returns through Tanja Tax Preparations that understated her customers’ tax liabilities by reporting false or exaggerated business expenses and claiming tax credits for false education expenses.

According to the complaint, despite knowing them to be false, Hollis prepared returns claiming business expenses for customers who did not own or operate a business and education expenses for customers who were not enrolled as students. The IRS interviewed Tanja Tax Preparations customers who said they did not give Hollis any reason to believe that the items reported on their returns were legitimate.

The complaint alleges that, by repeatedly understating her customers’ tax liabilities, Hollis caused the United States to lose substantial tax revenue.

In addition to a permanent injunction, the complaint asks the court to order Hollis to turn over the ill-gotten tax preparation fees she earned while preparing and filing fraudulent tax returns.

Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’ Dirty Dozen Tax Scams, and taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant. The IRS has information on its website for choosing a tax preparer, launched a free directory of federal tax preparers, and offers information on how to avoid “ghost” tax preparers whose refusal to sign a return should be a red flag to taxpayers. The IRS also has a checklist of things to remember when filing income tax returns. 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’s website. An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found here. If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details.