Court bars Louisiana man convicted of tax-related felonies from working as tax preparer

February 4, 2020

BATON ROUGE – At the request of the Louisiana Department of Revenue (LDR), a New Orleans judge barred a man convicted of tax-related felonies from working as a Louisiana tax preparer.

Judge Ellen M. Hazeur, of the Orleans Parish Civil District Court, permanently blocked Leroi Gorman Jackson (2017 Booking Photo) from “directly or indirectly acting as a Louisiana tax preparer, or filing, assisting in, or directing the preparation or filing” of any Louisiana tax returns other than his own.

Jackson, the owner of a chain of tax preparation businesses known as Taxman Financial Services, LLC, was arrested in 2017 for submitting income tax returns on behalf of his clients that contained phony business losses and resulted in $20,000 in fraudulent tax refunds; and for withholding an estimated $21,891 in payroll taxes from his employees’ paychecks, but failing to remit the withheld taxes to the state. He pleaded guilty to a felony charge of Filing False Public Records. Jackson pleaded guilty to a similar scheme in 2014.

In addition to the criminal charges, LDR litigators brought a civil case against Jackson seeking to bar him from working as a tax preparer in Louisiana.

Jackson is the second tax preparer barred from preparing returns under Act 526 of the 2018 Regular Session of the Louisiana Legislature, which authorizes the Department of Revenue to bring lawsuits against tax preparers who engage in fraudulent activity such as submitting false tax returns.

“Our goals with these civil cases are to protect taxpayers and to send a clear message that the State of Louisiana will not tolerate tax preparer fraud,” said Secretary of Revenue Kimberly Lewis Robinson.

Search for Barred Tax Preparers

• State of Louisiana
• IRS

Tips for Choosing a Reputable Tax Preparer

• Try to find a preparer who will be around to answer questions after the return has been filed.
• Avoid preparers who base their fee on a percentage of the amount of the refund or who claim they can obtain larger refunds than other preparers without first reviewing your returns.
• Review and ask questions before signing a return.
• Ask others that you know who have used that preparer if they were satisfied with the services that they received.
• Ask any preparer that you are considering for references.
• Ask and verify if the preparer belongs to a professional organization that requires its members to pursue continuing education and also holds them accountable to a code of ethics.
• Always question entries on your return that you don’t understand.
• Never sign a blank return.
• Insist that the preparer sign as the paid preparer of the return and provide his/her appropriate information on the return.
• The preparer should meet with the taxpayer and go over the return before it is filed.
• Taxpayers should be provided a copy of their return before it is filed.
• Pay attention to media reports of persons who have been convicted of tax fraud.
• Taxpayers should be aware that the information that they provide to their preparer could be used to commit identity theft by an unscrupulous preparer.