A federal court has been ask to permanently bar two South Carolina residents from preparing federal income tax returns for others. The Justice Department made the request in a federal court in Florence, S.C., in seeking an injunction to bar Susann Allen of Darlington County, S.C., and Rachel D. Watson of Florence County, S.C.
The government alleges that the two, whose recent businesses include Fludd's Express Tax Service and Gold Valley Pawn, used a variety of schemes to inflate refunds for clients. The issues include the allegations that to qualify clients for the Earned Income Tax Credit Allen and Watson fabricated or inflated deductions by creating phony Schedule C businesses and business expenses and non-existent dependents.
Their actions may have resulted in millions of dollars of lost taxes, the department claimed. It said that of the returns examined by the government, all 32 prepared by Watson and six by Allen overstated client refunds