Wednesday, August 27, 2014
DOJ ATTEMPTS TO STOP CHICAGO BUSINESSES FROM PREPARING TAX RETURNS,
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
Justice Department Sues to Stop Chicago-Area Woman and Her Businesses from Preparing Tax Returns
Tax Services Provider Allegedly Prepared Fraudulent Amended and Original Returns in Chicago-Area Hotel Rooms
The complaint alleges that Helfer prepares and files amended tax returns for individuals claiming refunds that they are not legally entitled to receive. According to the complaint, Helfer has prepared hundreds of amended tax returns for customers in the Chicago area and the tax loss to the U.S. Treasury as a result of her fraudulent conduct could exceed $3 million.
According to the civil injunction complaint, Helfer promises her customers that she can obtain tax refunds for them by amending their tax returns from prior years. To do this, Helfer allegedly fabricates expenses from businesses that do not exist and enters those expenses on a Schedule C-Profit or Loss From Business that she files with her customers’ amended tax returns. The complaint alleges that the expenses offset her customers’ income from prior years and illegally generates a refund. The complaint further alleges that Helfer also prepares original returns for customers during tax-filing season using this same scheme to generate a refund. In an attempt to avoid detection by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Helfer stopped signing the tax returns that she prepares and also frequently changes the locations in which she prepares customers’ tax returns, including various Chicago-area hotel rooms, the complaint alleges.
Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS' Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2014 . The IRS has some tips on their website for choosing a tax preparer. In the past decade, the department’s Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the 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.
Sunday, August 24, 2014
SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS AMERICA TO PAY $2.3 MILLION TO SETTLE FALSE CLAIMS ACT ALLEGATIONS
FROM: U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Samsung Electronics America Agrees to Pay $2.3 Million to Resolve False Claims Act Allegations
Samsung Electronics America Inc. (Samsung) has agreed to pay $2.3 million to resolve allegations that it caused the submission of false claims for products sold on General Service Administration (GSA) Multiple Award Schedule (MAS) contracts in violation of the Trade Agreements Act of 1979 (TAA), the Justice Department announced today. Samsung is an electronics distributor and marketer headquartered in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey.
“The Department of Justice is committed to protecting public funds and guarding against abuse of federal procurement programs,” said Assistant Attorney General Stuart F. Delery for the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “This settlement upholds important trade priorities by ensuring that the United States only uses its buying power to purchase from countries that trade fairly with us.”
MAS contracts are contracts awarded by GSA to multiple companies supplying comparable products and services. Once GSA negotiates and awards the contract, any federal agency may purchase under it. Like many other federal procurement contracts, GSA MAS contracts require the vendor to certify that all products it offers for sale comply with the TAA. The TAA generally requires the United States to purchase products made in the United States, or another designated country with which the United States has a trade agreement.
Samsung has authorized resellers who hold GSA MAS contracts. Samsung certifies to the authorized resellers that Samsung will provide TAA compliant products and the resellers in turn list those products on the resellers’ GSA MAS contracts. The settlement resolves allegations that, from January 2005 through August 2013, Samsung caused resellers of its products to sell items on their GSA MAS contracts in violation of the TAA by knowingly providing inaccurate information to the resellers regarding the country of origin of the goods. The United States alleges that Samsung represented to the resellers, who in turn represented to federal agencies, that the specified products were made in TAA designated countries, generally Korea or Mexico, when the specified products were in fact manufactured in China, which is not a TAA designated country.
“It is unacceptable to sell unauthorized foreign electronics to the United States,” said GSA Acting Inspector General Robert C. Erickson. “We expect all companies doing business with the federal government to comply with contracting laws.”
The allegations resolved by the settlement were originally brought in a lawsuit filed by Robert Simmons, a former Samsung employee, under the False Claims Act’s whistleblower provisions, which permit private parties to sue for false claims on behalf of the United States and to share in any recovery. Mr. Simmons’ share of the settlement has not yet been determined.
The investigation and settlement were the result of a coordinated effort among the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland, the Commercial Litigation Branch of the Justice Department’s Civil Division and the GSA’s Office of Inspector General.
The case is United States ex rel. Simmons v. Samsung Electronics America, Inc. et al., No. AW-11-2971 (D. Md.). The claims resolved by the settlement are allegations only and there has been no determination of liability.
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