The Internal Revenue Service his disbarred a Seattle, Wash.-area Enrolled Agent for stealing a client's tax payments and preparing returns with phony deductions for several clients. The Office of Professional Responsibility revoked the EA status of Lorna M. Walker and barred her from preparing federal tax returns for at least five years in a default judgment.
According to the IRS, a client gave Walker two money orders totaling $1,500 to forward to the IRS along with an offer in compromise for delinquent taxes. Instead, Walker added the words "or Lorna Walker" to the payee line and then endorsed and cash the money orders and deposited them into her account.
An administrative law judge also found that Walker filed 1040s for seven claims claiming Schedule C deductions that were unsubstantiated and unsupportable for 2007 and 2008.
The default judgment was entered after walker failed to respond to the administrative complaint and the motion for default judgment. While Walker sent a letter dated September 12 in which he said the client had received his money, the judge held that she failed to admit or deny the allegations and failed to sign it and state that the statements in it were true. She did not respond to additional correspondence.
