CHICAGO, Sept. 3 (UPI) -- A federal judge has been asked to bar a Chicago tax preparer from filing tax returns for others amid claims she skimmed customers' refunds, officials said.
The U.S. Justice Department filed for the permanent injunction with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, a statement said.
"The IRS and Justice Department are committed to putting fraudulent return preparers out of business," said Nathan Hochman, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Tax Division. "Since 2001, the Justice Department's Tax Division has obtained injunctions against more than 350 tax-return preparers and tax-fraud promoters."
The Justice Department accuses Debra Windham, a former secretary with the Internal Revenue Service's Criminal Investigation Division of claiming false deductions on her customers' returns and then applied without her customers' knowledge for "refund anticipation loans" in their names.
Prosecutors allege she took a portion of the loan proceeds without her customers' permission.
The IRS estimates a tax loss of about $850,000 for the returns Windham prepared for tax years 2004 through 2006, the statement said.
