COURT BARS LOUISIANA TAX PREPARER FROM INFLATING DEDUCTIONS FOR MARINERS

Court Finds So-Called Mariners’ Deduction is Improper

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Justice Department announced today that a federal court in New Orleans has barred Terri P. Dockery, a Houma, Louisiana tax preparer, from preparing returns claiming deductions for non-existent or improper business expenses. The court also directed Dockery to give the Justice Department the names, street and e-mail addresses, phone numbers, and Social Security numbers of all customers for whom she prepared returns or refund claims with improper deductions.

The government’s complaint alleged that Dockery prepared income tax returns for mariners that claimed deductions for meals or other incidentals that their employers provided for free. The court found that there was no basis for the “mariners’ deduction” that was contained in the returns Dockery prepared. Dockery agreed to the entry of the injunction, which bars her from preparing returns claiming such improper deductions and directs her to give copies of the order to customers for whom she prepared improper returns.

Last August, the court barred four Louisiana tax return preparers, including Douglas Paul Boudreaux and John Lawrence LeBourgeois, of Houma, from filing returns containing these kinds of deductions for mariners. Information about those cases is available at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/txdv04574.htm. Information about other tax-scam cases in which the Justice Department has sought and obtained injunctions is available at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/taxpress2005.htm. Information about the Justice Department’s Tax Division can be found at http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/.