Washington (March 25, 2003) -- A Florida tax preparer who the government believes is promoting several tax scams has been ordered to provide the Justice Department with a list of the names of all customers for whom he has prepared returns or requests for refunds in the past three years.
Two weeks ago, the Justice Department sued Gregory T. Mayer, who does business in his own name and as Legal Tax Newsletter LC, and Morton & Oxley Ltd., to stop him from promoting several alleged tax scams, including the so-called "Section 861 argument," named after the tax code section that it misrepresents.
According to court papers filed by the Justice Department, Mayer also promoted a scam that uses sham trusts and offshore transfers to conceal income and assets from the Internal Revenue Service. The Department's suit seeks to prevent Mayer from preparing federal tax returns and representing clients before the IRS.
"Getting customer lists is an important step in our efforts to stop tax return preparers who promote tax scams," said Claire Fallon, deputy assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Tax Division. "Federal law requires return preparers to turn over their customer lists on request of the IRS. The Justice Department is taking vigorous action to ensure that preparers comply with this law."
-- Electronic Accountant Newswire staff
