Federal Court Bars Florida Tax Return Preparer and his Business From Preparing Tax Returns and Orders Them to Disgorge Ill-Gotten Gains
A federal court in Orlando, Florida entered a permanent injunction against Herve Erilus and Herve Erilus, LLC, barring them from preparing federal tax returns for others and owning or operating a tax preparation business, the Justice Department announced on August 14. The court also ordered that Herve Erilus and Herve Erilus, LLC disgorge $107,895.34, representing the ill-gotten gains that they received for the preparation of tax returns. The order was signed by Judge John Antoon II of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is a refundable tax credit available to certain low-income working people. In this case, the court found that Erilus and Herve Erilus LLC, an entity through which Erilus owns and operates a tax preparation store doing business as Travelers Tax Center, prepared tax returns that included fraudulent claims for the EITC, often based on bogus dependents, fabricated business income and expenses, and/or false filing status. The court also determined that Erilus and Herve Erilus LLC systematically and repeatedly prepared tax returns that falsely claimed: (1) education credits and (2) self-employed business income and/or expenses. The court concluded that injunctive relief and an order requiring that Erilus and Herve Erilus LLC disgorge the ill-gotten gains that they received for the preparation of tax returns making such false claims was appropriate.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice
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