The United States has asked a federal court in Miami, Florida, to permanently bar Simon Accounting & Tax Services LLC, and three of its preparers, Vilbrun Simon, Saintanise Agenord, and Wilcienne Pierre, from preparing federal income tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. According to the government complaint, Simon, his wife, Agenord, and his niece, Pierre, prepare returns that seek fraudulent tax refunds by fabricating business income, claiming false itemized deductions, and claiming various tax credits to which their customers are not entitled.

The government complaint alleges that Simon, Agenord, and Pierre prepare returns that fabricate business income to increase the customers’ Earned Income Tax Credit. The complaint also alleges that Simon and the others inflate education expenses on their customers’ returns to claim education credits that their customers are not entitled to receive. Additionally, the complaint alleges that Simon, Agenord, and Pierre fabricate deductions to reduce the taxable income their customers report and increase their customers’ refunds. Altogether, the government complaint alleges that Simon’s and the others’ activities may have caused the United States to lose millions of dollars in understated taxes and fraudulent refunds.

Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’s Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2017 and taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant. The IRS has some tips on their 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. 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.