The Justice Department is seeking to shut down three tax preparers from the Philadelphia area. The DOJ has asked a federal court to bar these individuals from preparing tax returns for other people because they have allegedly been involved in tax fraud against the U.S. government. According to the Justice Department, Deron Joe, James Tokpawhiea, and Edmund Dassin have operated Urban Tax Professionals together and have been intentionally understating their customers’ tax liabilities.
The alleged tax fraud includes false claims of first-time-homebuyer credits and earned-income credits to fraudulently maximize tax refunds. The complaint alleged that at least one employee was instructed to claim a first-time-homebuyers credit on every tax return he prepared. The IRS allegedly disallowed $1.4 million in additional tax credits that Urban Tax Professionals claimed on their customers’ tax returns.
Waters & Kraus is a national firm with highly skilled lawyers practicing qui tam litigation in four offices, including Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Baltimore. Our attorneys have decades of experience successfully representing whistleblowers in a variety of fraud cases. Contact us or call our attorneys at 800.226.9880 to learn more about our practice and how we can assist.
