A federal court has permanently barred three Philadelphia-area men from preparing federal tax returns for others. The three Liberian national prepared fraudulent federal income tax returns for a primarily Liberian clientele, according to the Justice Department complaint.The three, Deron O. Joe of Darby, Pa.; Edmund G. Dassin of Lansdowne, Pa.; and James M. Tokpawhiea of Philadelphia, consent to a civil injunction without admitting the allegations against them. They were accused of claiming bogus first-time-homebuyer credits for at least 190 individuals and earned-income credits.
Until August 2011, the trio operated Edron Tax Professionals in Philadelphia when they changed the name to Urban Tax Professionals and moved the office to Collingdale, Pa. According to the complaint, Joe and Dassin told one employee to claim the first-time-homebuyer credit on every return he prepared.
Joe, a former H&R Block preparer, founded Edron in 2006. He was also accused of underreporting income on his own 2007 and 2008 returns, filing as single, although he was married, and claiming a mortgage deduction and the homebuyer credit even though he did not have a mortgage or purchase a home. Dassin also claimed the homebuyer credit even though he lived in an apartment.
