The Justice Department announced today that it has asked a federal court in Chicago, Illinois, to permanently bar Anna Platos and Theodore (Ted) Platos, who do business as Midway Accounting Services, from preparing federal tax returns.  According to the complaint, Ted Platos began doing business as API Tax Solutions in 2013.  The civil injunction suit alleges that Anna Platos and Ted Platos claim bogus deductions and credits on customers’ federal tax returns.

Anna Platos and Ted Platos allegedly claim head-of-household filing status on customers’ tax returns in order to increase customers’ standard deductions, even though Anna Platos and Ted Platos are aware that the customers do not qualify to claim that filing status.  Anna Platos and Ted Platos also allegedly fabricate claims for education credits, unreimbursed employee business expenses, charitable contributions, medical expenses, and state and local taxes paid on tax returns that they prepare.  The complaint further alleges that Anna Platos fabricated a receipt purportedly supporting an energy credit that she claimed on a customer’s tax return, presented that fabricated receipt to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and instructed the customer to lie to the IRS. 

The complaint also requests that the federal court require Anna Platos and Ted Platos to provide the government with a list of customers for whom they have prepared tax returns beginning with the 2009 tax year, to contact those customers to inform them of the injunction order, and to post a copy of the injunction order at their place of business.

Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS' Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2014.  The IRS has some tips on their website for choosing a tax preparer.  In the past decade, the Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers.  Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department 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

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14-1017
Tax Division