Federal Court Bars Kansas Man from Preparing Federal Tax Returns

May 28, 2010 - WASHINGTON – A federal judge in Kansas City, Kan., has permanently barred a Garden City, Kan. tax preparer, Jose Lares, from preparing federal tax returns, the Justice Department announced today. The permanent injunction, to which Lares consented, was entered by Kathryn H. Vratil, Chief Judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas. It makes permanent a ban imposed by a preliminary injunction entered last March.

The government complaint in the case alleged that Lares claims false dependent exemptions and false filing statuses for his customers, many of whom are recent Mexican immigrants with limited English-language skills and little or no knowledge of the complexities of the Internal Revenue Code or of the deductions and credits falsely claimed by Lares on their returns. The complaint also alleged that Internal Revenue Service (IRS) audits of customers of Lares’s former company, Income Tax Dinero Rapido, resulted in customers owing over $2 million. The complaint further states that IRS audits of customers of Lares’s current business, Dinero Rapido Tax Services, has revealed an average tax loss of over $6,000 per return.

The court also ordered Lares to send a copy of the court order to his customers and to provide a complete customer list to the Department of Justice.