"The guy down the street"

[Black Bart]

No wonder he/she always get 'em a bigger refund than I do.

Article from monthly newsletter of Arkansas Society of Accountants:

Washington, D.C.--The Justice Department has filed a civil injunction suit seeking to bar East Peoria, IL resident Mary Powell from preparing federal tax returns for others. According to the goverment complaint:

Powell has prepared more than 1,000 returns since 2003.
IRS has examined 109 returns Powell prepared.
ALL of them understated the customer's tax liability.
The average under-reported amount of tax was $2,794 per return.
IRS estimate of cost to U.S. Treasury from Powell's return preparation -- $2.9 million.
Suit alleges: fabrication and inflation of business expense deductions, improperly listing ineligible dependents, claiming false earned income tax credits, claiming false education credits.

The suit asks the court to order Powell to give the government a list of her customer's names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, and Social Security numbers (bet this puts a crimp in their summer vacation plans).

[sea-tax]

BB I think that this is great the more of these crooks the IRS gets off the streets better for all of us. I guess us reputable folks will have to start charging a little more.

[WhiteOleander]

Hey Black Bart.

I've been wondering. Have you found one of those monkeys to do our work yet? With the rise in employee costs, they sure would come in handy.

Any luck when you checked with PetCo?

[veritas]

We sell 'em here

Called "Trunk Monkeys"

[Corduroy Frog]

Just think of it.

Wake the dead!! Black Bart is back!! I think he hibernates for weeks sometimes! Good to hear from you!

Let's examine what has been said about this woman. I have lost plenty of business to these people - Bart calls them "The guy down the street." I call them "The guy across town." Same thing. No principles, lots of customers who think he is more knowledgeable about taxes than you are because he gets them back more money.

Just think of the enormity of what he said. 109 returns selected, ALL of them understating liability. When you consider so many returns are just short forms with just W-2s and NO possibility of lowering their taxes, maybe we can grasp just how bad this is. Average per return: $2794 understated. Outside of EIC, (which is NOT a tax liability) no one has that much tax anyway unless they are above the 51st percentile of tax filers, AFTER you consider that most of these had amounts withheld.

Good grief. This gal not only worked with the people and documents at her disposal, she also had to CREATE losses/deductions out of thin air. Jail for more of these people and dignity for the rest of us.

A better strategy for IRS than sitting on their butts and letting their computers send out CP2000 notices, more than half of which are wrong.

[Black Bart]

ST - VS - WO - Frog

Hello boys,

Nice to hear from you, too.

[sea-tax]

Hello boys,

Nice to hear from you, too.

Likewise BB It has been awhile since we have seen you. I thought maybe you had vanished to the other forums along with our dearly departed.

[joanmcq]

I think the IRS would consider an improper refund from EIC or ACCT an understatement of tax liability too. In any case, its money from all of our pockets. And think, if considered fraudulent, no statute of limitations. Her clients are not in for a good time.

[Luis Mopeo]

Also note what the IRS does if they catch a preparer purposely inflating refunds or lowering tax due by illegitimate means. They take their client list and audit every one of them. The IRS can't order anyone to stop doing taxes without using the Justice Department, but they can sure put a practitioner out of business real quick when all their clients are audited.

[JAinNC]

Not always

Local preparer after 3 years of audits of his clients several year ago - it was a big deal and everybody knew ..... still doing taxes and someone ese signs returns. Offers E-file , bank products, some people don't know or care how much he charges.
Human nature is a scary thing sometimes.

[Holland]

I am representing a few clients

Also note what the IRS does if they catch a preparer purposely inflating refunds or lowering tax due by illegitimate means. They take their client list and audit every one of them. The IRS can't order anyone to stop doing taxes without using the Justice Department, but they can sure put a practitioner out of business real quick when all their clients are audited.

of a local preparer who has a court order to cease preparing. IRS has gone round and round with this sleazebag, but on she goes. Her latest method is to have her offspring actually press the keys while she supervises! Offspring signs of course. She explains to her clients that this method is just a technicality!

[Black Bart]

Nope;

...thought maybe you had vanished...

still alive and kicking, my Northwestern friend. I hope you are faring well. Got any hot stock tips?

Say, have any of y'all heard from Bird Legs lately? Last I heard, he was going to the hospital for treatment of lymphoma. And, for that matter, is there anything from Chief (aka Billy O.) in Florida recently? I wonder if he's fairly well recovered from that heart attack he had a good while back?

[sea-tax]

still alive and kicking, my Northwestern friend. I hope you are faring well. Got any hot stock tips?

Say, have any of y'all heard from Bird Legs lately? Last I heard, he was going to the hospital for treatment of lymphoma. And, for that matter, is there anything from Chief (aka Billy O.) in Florida recently? I wonder if he's fairly well recovered from that heart attack he had a good while back?

No hot stock tips, as I think you may or may not know I am a firm believer in diversification . Therefore I don't have a crystal ball and don't invest as though I do.

My advice diversify , buy longterm and let time do what it does. Good Luck BB glad to see you back and make sure you still check in from time to time.

[Bird Legs]

Black Bart

Appreciate you asking. Am still taking chemotherapy treatments, blood transfusions,
etc. Have had 5 treatments out of a series of 8 so far. Had a C T Scan Thursday a week ago. It came back very positive. Do get tired easily, however, am still working on tax returns. Clients have been very paitient with me.
Just hope you are doing well and staying active chasing those moonshiners down there
in those valleys & hills.
Bird Legs

[FEDUKE404]

Big-time crooked preparer in NC

Local preparer after 3 years of audits of his clients several year ago - it was a big deal and everybody knew ..... still doing taxes and someone else signs returns. Offers E-file , bank products, some people don't know or care how much he charges.
Human nature is a scary thing sometimes.

This is the NC person I had heard about. Seems ALL of his clients, "innocent" or not, had their returns audited. Aside from just altering the relevant tax facts and rules, the guy presented himself as something quite different from what he was in reality. His closest contact to a stated CPA degree must have been from a business trip to a Holiday Inn Express.

"...prepared over 3,800 individual income tax returns for taxpayers from 40 different counties for the 2001, 2002, and 2003 tax years. Approximately 60 percent of his clients were car salesmen...."

But it should be noted he received an active prison sentence.

http://www.dor.state.nc.us/press/jan05/miller.html

I hope this is not the same guy JAinNC mentions!!

FE