Taxation Legal News

Chicago Tax Preparer Caused Losses Of $3 Million To The U.S. Treasury

A federal court in Chicago, Ill., has permanently barred Bertha Steverson of Chicago from preparing federal income tax returns for others, the Justice Department announced today. The court found that Steverson, the owner of Bertha’s Tax Service, prepared tax returns for customers that contained deductions for fictitious expenses. The court found that Steverson has prepared an estimated 1,224 returns since 2004 that have caused an estimated loss to the U.S. Treasury of more than $3 million.

The court’s order requires Steverson to give the Justice Department a list of her customers’ names, addresses, e-mail addresses and Social Security numbers. More information and a copy of the complaint are available at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/txdv07118.htm.

Since 2001 the Justice Department has obtained more than 235 injunctions to stop the promotion of tax fraud schemes and the preparation of fraudulent returns. More information about these cases is available on the Justice Department Web site at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/taxpress2007.htm. More information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division can be found at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/index.html.

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	Did You Know?
	Form 5471 is Information Return of U.S. Persons With Respect to Certain Foreign Corporations Report information with respect to certain foreign corporations. A domestic partnership may have to file Form 5471 if it: Controls a foreign corporation; or Acquires, disposes of, or owns 5% or more in value of the outstanding stock of a foreign corporation; or Owns stock in a corporation that is a controlled foreign corporation for an uninterrupted period of 30 days or more during any tax year of the foreign corporation, and it owned that stock on the last day of that year.