Federal Court Permanently Shuts Down Illinois Tax Preparer

A federal court in the Northern District of Illinois has permanently enjoined Sir Michael Joseph Davenport, a tax preparer from Joliet, Illinois, and his company, My Unity Tax Financial & Tax Preparation LLC (My Unity Tax), from preparing federal tax returns for others.

Davenport is also barred from owning or operating any tax return preparation businesses in the future. The permanent injunction was agreed to by Davenport and his business.

The civil complaint filed in this case alleges that Davenport and My Unity Tax prepared false and fraudulent federal tax returns with the intent to reduce customers’ tax liabilities or obtain undeserved tax refunds. The complaint claims that Davenport and his company regularly reported fictitious businesses, minimal or no income, and fabricated or manipulated expenses on customers’ tax returns to fraudulently reduce taxable income. According to the complaint, many of these businesses did not exist.

Furthermore, the complaint alleges that Davenport, despite holding a Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) issued by the IRS, acted as a “ghost preparer.” This means he did not sign the customers’ tax returns, nor did he identify himself as the paid preparer by including his PTIN on the returns he prepared for paying customers. Additionally, the United States alleged that Davenport and My Unity Tax used software intended for personal, not professional, use to prepare clients’ tax returns, making it appear as though the customers had filed the returns themselves.

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

This article, "Federal Court Permanently Shuts Down Illinois Tax Preparer" was first published on Small Business Trends