Rodger S. Thomas Sr., Tax Return Scam, Ohio 2009

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Ohio Man Accused of Tax Return Scam

A Dayton, Ohio, man is facing a civil injunction suit for allegedly preparing tax returns that understate his customers’ tax liabilities.

Rodger S. Thomas Sr. is accused of claiming false business deductions on his customers’ Schedule C and fictitious deductions on their Schedule A from 2006 through 2009, according to a complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.

The government alleges that Thomas prepared false Forms 1099 to inflate his customers’ income and maximize their Earned Income Tax Credits. He would then report these payments on the Schedule C of his own income tax returns as expenses incurred by his business Ramjet Express.

Thomas also allegedly failed to sign or affix a Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) to many of the returns he prepared.

This is not Thomas’s first run-in with the law. In 2012, he pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement on an income tax return and one count of aiding and assisting in the filing of a false income tax return. He was subsequently sentenced to 24 months in prison.

Thomas was released from prison in March 2014 and has indicated that he intends to continue preparing tax returns, despite the government’s efforts to stop him.

The United States seeks to bar Thomas from preparing or assisting others in the preparation of a tax form that understates a tax liability. The government is also requesting that Thomas be required to identify himself on returns using his name and PTIN, keep a list of the names of individuals for whom he prepares federal tax returns, and provide the list of customers to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for inspection upon demand.

Return preparer fraud is one of the IRS’s Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2014. The IRS has some tips on their website for choosing a tax preparer. In the past decade, the Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers.

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