The Justice Department’s Tax Division has filed a civil injunction suit to permanently bar Niclas Pierre and Elius Bessard, along with their tax return preparation businesses—Niclas Tax and Express Inc. and Bessard Immigrations and Tax Services LLC—from preparing federal tax returns for others. The United States also seeks an order requiring the defendants to disgorge their ill-gotten preparation fees.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, the complaint alleges that Pierre and Bessard prepared and filed over 8,000 federal income tax returns since at least 2018. According to the complaint, they employed various schemes to claim false deductions and credits, including reporting fake or inflated business expenses, fraudulent losses from supposed sales of personal investments and business property, and fraudulently claiming credits such as the Residential Energy Credit and the American Opportunity Credit—all without their customers' knowledge. Additionally, it is alleged that Pierre and Bessard concealed their fraudulent activities by not identifying themselves as the return preparers.
The complaint asserts that these activities have cost the United States millions of dollars in lost tax revenue. However, estimating the exact loss is challenging due to the complexity of their schemes and inconsistent identification as tax return preparers.
Deputy Assistant Attorney General David A. Hubbert of the Justice Department’s Tax Division announced this action. Attorneys from the Tax Division are handling the case.
Taxpayers are advised to remain vigilant against dishonest tax preparers. The IRS provides information on its website for choosing a tax return preparer and offers a free directory of federal tax preparers. It warns taxpayers about ghost preparers and other improper acts by some tax preparers. The IRS also provides guidance on what credentials and qualifications taxpayers should seek from their return preparer.
Over 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, which includes an alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns or promoting tax schemes. If you believe one of these enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details.