DOJ files suit to bar Miami tax preparers over fraud claims

FLORIDA—The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced that it is seeking to shut down two Miami tax return preparers and their tax preparation businesses.

According to the DOJ, its Tax Division filed a civil injunction suit on May 28 to permanently bar Niclas Pierre and Elius Bessard and their tax return preparation businesses, Niclas Tax and Express Inc. and Bessard Immigrations and Tax Services LLC, from preparing federal tax returns for others.

The United States also seeks an order requiring the defendants to disgorge to the United States any ill-gotten preparation fees.

The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, alleges that Mr Pierre and Mr Bessard, through their businesses, prepared and filed over 8,000 federal income tax returns for customers since at least 2018.

According to the complaint, the men used various schemes to claim false deductions and credits, including knowingly reporting fake or inflated business expenses and fraudulent losses from the supposed sale of personal investments and business property.

Additionally, they are accused of fraudulently claiming various credits, such as the Residential Energy Credit and the American Opportunity Credit, all without customers’ knowledge.

The complaint alleges that Mr Pierre and Mr Bessard hid their fraudulent activity by not identifying themselves as the return preparer and instead listing another person as the return preparer or no one at all.

According to the complaint, the defendants’ fraudulent activities have cost the United States millions of dollars in lost tax revenue, but the exact loss is difficult to estimate because of the complexity of their schemes and their failure to consistently identify themselves as the tax return preparers.

Deputy Assistant Attorney General David A. Hubbert of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.

Attorneys from the Tax Division are handling the case.