A federal court last week permanently enjoined a Houston-area tax return preparer and her business from preparing federal tax returns for others, among other related prohibitions.
Crystal Ojeda and her tax return preparation business, Money Market Tax Company LLC, consented to a permanent injunction in an order entered against them on Nov. 9. The complaint filed earlier this year alleges that Ojeda prepared over 10,000 federal income tax returns during 2018-2023 from her business Money Market Tax Company LLC, as well as through two separate sole proprietorships: Money Market Financial Services and Money Market Financial. The complaint further alleges that in a substantial number of these tax returns, Ojeda significantly overstated her customers’ tax refund amounts by fabricating or inflating business losses, medical and dental expenses and charitable contributions. In addition, the complaint alleges that for some customers’ returns, Ojeda falsely claimed residential energy credits to which her customers were not entitled.
By repeatedly understating her customers’ tax liabilities, Ojeda allegedly caused the United States harm of an estimated $4.8 million in tax revenue just from the years 2020 to 2022, and millions more from earlier years.
In addition to other prohibitions, the injunction order prohibits Ojeda and her business from acting as a federal tax-return preparer for any person or entity other than on their own behalf and from using or obtaining any Preparer Tax Identification Number or Electronic Filing Identification Number.
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 personal information.
In the past decade, the Justice Department’s 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.