Justice Department seeks to shut down Florida return preparers

FLORIDA — The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) said it is seeking to shut down several Florida tax return preparers.

According to the DOJ, the United States filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida against Javier Campos, David DePablo, Krystallee Gonzalez, Alvaro Jauregui, Katya Rojas, Patricia Vanegas, JBC Tax Services LLC, WK Tax Services Inc., Cutler Bay Tax Services Inc., N.L.T.S., Inc. doing business as Naranja Lakes Tax Services Inc., and Tax Services Group Corp.

The civil complaint seeks to enjoin the defendants from preparing federal income tax returns for others. The complaint also requests that the court require Campos and the businesses he controls to disgorge the fees they obtained by preparing federal tax returns that make grossly incompetent, negligent, reckless, and/or fraudulent claims, the DOJ said.

The civil complaint alleges that, from 2019 through 2022, the defendants prepared at least 12,000 tax returns annually. The complaint further alleges that Campos and the other defendants, using a variety of schemes, prepared tax returns that understate their customers’ tax liability and overstate their claimed refunds.

The complaint alleges that the defendants prepared customers’ returns that included various false or fabricated deductions and credits, including:

• fabricated residential energy credits
• fictitious deductions and credits for education expenses, including tuition and fees
• false COVID-19 sick and family leave credits
• bogus uncommon deductions, including for rental of personal property, unlawful discrimination claims, and reforestation amortization and expenses

According to the complaint, Campos and the other defendant’s pattern of conduct has resulted in the issuance of inflated refunds to taxpayers and the loss of significant federal tax revenue.

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