Justice Department Sues Business Operating in Four States and Its Owners to Stop Tax Preparation Fraud

The Justice Department today filed a civil injunction suit in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas seeking to permanently bar Mayuen K. Ajak, Yier B. Deng, Bol C. Guot, Gabriel M. Kuot and Golden D4 Heart Tax Services LLC from owning or operating a tax preparation business and preparing tax returns. The complaint also requests that the court require the defendants to disgorge the return preparation fees they obtained by preparing allegedly false or fraudulent tax returns.

According to the complaint, Ajak, Deng, Guot and Kuot incorporated Golden D4 Heart Tax Services LLC in Texas in 2018. They currently operate tax preparation stores in Texas, Missouri, Nebraska and Arizona under the name Golden Heart Tax Services LLC.

The complaint alleges that the defendants, as well as those acting in concert with the defendants or at their direction, prepared and filed tax returns to falsely increase customers’ refunds. The defendants profit through high and often undisclosed preparation fees, at the expense of customers and the Treasury. According to the complaint, the IRS estimates the harm to the United States in the form of underreported income and unpaid taxes from the defendants’ misconduct could exceed $10 million.

The complaint describes the various schemes the defendants, and those acting on their behalf, utilized to make unlawful claims on customers’ tax returns and to overstate their refunds, including:

            •           Falsely claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit;

            •           Fabricating businesses and related business income and expenses;

            •           Claiming false fuel tax credits;

            •           Claiming fabricated COVID-19-related tax credits; and

            •           Claiming false education credits.

Taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant against unscrupulous tax preparers. The IRS has information on its website for choosing a tax return preparer and has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers. The IRS also offers guidance on the credentials and qualifications that taxpayers should seek from their return preparer.

In the past decade, the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice 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.