WASHINGTON, D.C.—The Justice Department announced today that a federal court in Grand Rapids has permanently barred Charles Conces of Battle Creek, Mich., from preparing federal tax returns for others and promoting several tax-fraud schemes. The civil injunction order, signed by Judge Gordon J. Quist of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan, was entered against Conces and his organization, the National Lawman Committee for the Public Interest.
The court concluded that Conces “promotes tax evasion by creating and selling materials designed to obstruct the administration of the income tax laws.” The court also noted that Conces promotes the use of the so-called “zero return,” described by the court as “a return showing that the taxpayer has no income based upon the faulty premise that income is not taxable under the income tax laws.”
In addition to halting sales of his materials, Conces must also notify his customers of the injunction and give the Justice Department a list of his customers’ names, addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and Social Security numbers.
The Justice Department has obtained injunctions against more than 175 tax-fraud promoters and tax preparers since 2001. More information about the Justice Department’s efforts against tax-scam promoters can be found at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/taxpress2006.htm. Information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division can be found at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax.
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