Federal Court Bars Tennessee Tax Preparer | WPN World People News

A federal court has barred a Nashville-area tax return preparer from preparing returns for others, the Justice Department announced on May 10. The court’s injunction forbids LaVergne, Tennessee, resident Michelle Cole Theus, aka Michelle Cole, and Cole Tax Services from preparing federal tax returns or operating a return-preparation business. It also requires Theus to turn over a complete list of her customers to the government. Theus agreed to entry of the injunction without admitting or denying the factual allegations in the United States’ civil complaint.

According to the United States’ civil complaint in the case, Theus initially prepared accurate returns for her customers, then fraudulently increased the returns’ claimed refund—for example, by adding fictitious dependents or false education credits. Theus then caused the fraudulently inflated portion of the refund, or sometimes the entire refund, to be deposited to her own bank account, the complaint alleges. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) estimates that Theus has claimed at least $788,220 in fraudulent refunds, according to the complaint.

Source: U.S. Department of Justice