Monday, November 21, 2022

The United States filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas today seeking to bar a Houston area tax return preparer from preparing federal income tax returns for others. 

The complaint alleges that Hollings Ray Alexander prepared over 5,200 federal income tax returns during 2020-2022 at a business called “Speedy Title & Tax Service” or “Tax Firm.” According to the complaint, in a number of these tax returns, the defendants significantly overstated the customers’ tax refunds by fabricating or inflating business losses and/or by falsely claiming education credits to which the customers were not entitled.

By repeatedly understating his customers’ tax liabilities, the complaint alleges, Alexander caused harm to the United States of more than an estimated $2.5 million in tax revenue from 2020 to 2022.

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

Taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant against unscrupulous tax preparers. The IRS has information on its website for choosing a tax return preparer and has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers. The IRS also offers 10 tips to avoid tax season fraud and ways to safeguard their personal information.

In the past decade, the Department of Justice Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers.  Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website. An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found on this page.  If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details.