Cedric Reid, Advance Tax Group Inc., Tax Fraud, Florida 2024

The Justice Department has filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida seeking to shut down Advance Tax Group Inc. and its owner Cedric Reid for allegedly preparing federal income tax returns that include fraudulent deductions and credits.

According to the complaint, Reid's business, Advance Tax Group Inc., has offices in Daytona Beach and Ocala, Florida. The government alleges that the defendants underreported taxes owed by their customers and claimed refunds that the customers were not entitled to receive.

The complaint alleges that the defendants prepared returns that falsified filing status, reported false or inflated business expenses and losses, and claimed false fuel tax credits, education credits, and other credits. The defendants allegedly used the false information to maximize their customers' earned income tax credit (EITC) and failed to follow the IRS's EITC due diligence requirements.

The government estimates that the defendants caused an estimated tax loss of more than $7 million in 2023 and 2024 alone.

Deputy Assistant Attorney General Joshua Wu made the announcement, stating that taxpayers should remain vigilant against unscrupulous tax preparers. The IRS has information on its website on how to choose a tax return preparer and has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers.

In the past decade, the Justice Department 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.

Cedric Reid, Advance Tax Group Inc., and Juan Santana are the defendants in this case. The exact criminal charges are tax fraud, with an estimated tax loss of more than $7 million in 2023 and 2024 alone. The city and state are Daytona Beach and Ocala, Florida, respectively. The exact date of the crime is not specified in the complaint. The outcome is pending, as the Justice Department seeks to enjoin the defendants from preparing federal income tax returns for others.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-seeks-shut-down-florida-return-preparers