Federal Court Shuts Down Dallas Tax Preparer

WASHINGTON - A federal court in Dallas has permanently barred a Garland, Texas, man from preparing federal tax returns for others. Lucky Ngo, who operated "Lucky’s Translation and Tax Service" and "Water Inn," prepared over 6,100 federal tax returns for customers since 2004, according to the government complaint filed in the civil injunction case. Ngo agreed to the permanent injunction order.

The government lawsuit alleged that Ngo had a long history of preparing false tax returns claiming improper deductions for non-deductible personal expenses. According to the complaint, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) officials twice met with Ngo and explained to him that the deductions he was claiming were improper, but Ngo continued to claim improper deductions. Ngo’s conduct allegedly caused over $9.6 million dollars in harm to the United States.

"The Justice Department and Internal Revenue Service are working together closely to shut down tax preparers who refuse to comply with the tax laws," said John DiCicco, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division.

DiCicco thanked Grayson Hoffman, the Justice Department trial attorney who handled the case, and Chris Hendrix, a revenue agent with the IRS’s Small Business/Self-Employed Division, who conducted the investigation.

Since 2001, the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained more than 385 injunctions against tax fraud promoters and tax return preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s Web site, as is information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division.