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Press Release

Justice Department Seeks to Close Miami-Area Tax Firm

For Immediate Release
Office of Public Affairs
Defendants Allegedly Claimed Over $3.6 Million in Bogus Fuel Tax Credits

WASHINGTON – The United States has sued four Hialeah, Fla., tax return preparers – Alberto Alem, Beatriz Sardinas and Pilar Medina and their company, PCPS Corp. – seeking to put them out of business, the Justice Department announced today. The civil injunction suit was filed in Miami with the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.

According to the civil injunction complaint, the defendants prepare federal income tax returns with fabricated claims for the federal fuel tax credit. The credit is available in limited circumstances for fuel purchased for off-highway business use. Fraudulently claiming the fuel tax credit is one of the Internal Revenue Service’s Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2009. The government complaint alleges that PCPS’s false claims for federal fuel tax credits appeared on almost 1,500 returns in 2006 and 2007 with total fraudulent claims exceeding $3.6 million.

In the past decade the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained injunctions against more than 410 tax return preparers and tax-fraud promoters. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department Web site.

Updated September 15, 2014

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Press Release Number: 09-691