Colorado promoter Curtis Morris shut down

[Demosthenes]

_______________________________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE TAX
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6, 2009 (202) 514-2007
http://WWW.JUSTICE.GOV TDD (202) 514-1888
COLORADO MAN SUED BY THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT FOR PROMOTING
ALLEGED TAX FRAUD SCHEMES
Denver Area Tax Preparer Allegedly Sought Over $55 Million
in Fraudulent Income Tax Refunds for Customers
WASHINGTON – The United States has asked a federal court in Denver to bar Curtis Morris, an Elizabeth, Colo., tax return preparer, and his business, Numbers & Beyond, from preparing tax returns, the Justice Department announced today. Morris prepares fraudulent federal income tax returns seeking large refunds for customers, including one refund claim for $1.7 million, according to the government’s complaint.

The complaint alleges that Morris prepares returns that report bogus income tax withholding based on false claims of receiving Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form 1099 income. The returns allegedly request fraudulent refunds based on the fake reported withholding. The complaint states that Morris’s scheme is part of a growing trend of filing frivolous federal tax returns and forms to steal from the U.S. Treasury.
According to the government complaint, the IRS catches most frivolous refund requests before reimbursements are issued, but Morris’s scheme has caused the IRS to issue $1.9 million in erroneous refunds. Morris has allegedly sought over $55 million in fraudulent refunds for more than 140 customers in Colorado, California, Arizona, and New Mexico.
“Taxpayers tempted to consider participating in an illegal tax refund scheme should think twice before taking the risk,” said John A. DiCicco, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Tax Division. “In addition to risking criminal prosecution, they also risk incurring civil penalties of as much as 20 percent of the amount of their fraudulent refund claim. For a $1.9 million bogus claim like the one alleged in this suit, that’s a penalty of $380,000, and it applies even if, as usually happens, the IRS detects the fraudulent claim but doesn’t issue the refund.”
In the past decade, the Justice Department has obtained injunctions against more than 425 tax preparers and tax fraud promoters. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s Tax Division Web site.

[Demosthenes]

The complaint (lots of 1099-OID details):

http://www.cheatingfrenzy.com/morris1.pdf

[LPC]

The United States has asked a federal court in Denver to bar Curtis Morris, an Elizabeth, Colo., tax return preparer, and his business, Numbers & Beyond, from preparing tax returns, the Justice Department announced today.

His trade name says it all.

[Prof]

Although Curtis appears to be a "bookkeeper" and not a CPA, his trade name reminds me of the old joke:

"What is the difference between a bookkeeper and a CPA?"

If you ask a bookkeeper what 2 + 2 equals, the answer will always be 4.

If you ask a CPA what 2 + 2 equals, he'll pause a moment and then ask: "What do you need it to be?"

[Prof]

CONTEST:

There are really only 3 CPA jokes. The one I posted, the one CKB posted and:

FILL IN THE BLANK

20 quatloos to the winner.

[Quixote]

A CPA is having a hard time sleeping and goes to see his doctor. "Doctor, I just can't get to sleep at night."

"Have you tried counting sheep?"

"That's the problem - I make a mistake and then spend three hours trying to find it."


This is the version of the Prof's joke that I have always heard:

A CPA, an engineer and a lawyer are applying for a job. The interviewer asks each one what 2 x 2 equals. The CPA answers, "4". The engineer pulls out his slide rule and answers, "Approximately 4.0". The lawyer leans in and asks, "How much do you want it to be?"

[Imalawman]

CONTEST:

There are really only 3 CPA jokes. The one I posted, the one CKB posted and:

FILL IN THE BLANK

20 quatloos to the winner.

Two accountants are talking..one says, "hey, interesting thing happened to me yesterday; I was in the park and a young woman came up to me riding on a bike, stopped, got off the bike and took off her clothes. I was stunned; then she said, "take what you want!"

The other accountant says, "so...what'd you take?" "Well, I took the bike, what else?" "Good call", the other accountant said, "her clothes probably wouldn't have fit".

[Prof]

CONTEST:

There are really only 3 CPA jokes. The one I posted, the one CKB posted and:

FILL IN THE BLANK

20 quatloos to the winner.

Two accountants are talking..one says, "hey, interesting thing happened to me yesterday; I was in the park and a young woman came up to me riding on a bike, stopped, got off the bike and took off her clothes. I was stunned; then she said, "take what you want!"

The other accountant says, "so...what'd you take?" "Well, I took the bike, what else?" "Good call", the other accountant said, "her clothes probably wouldn't have fit".

Nope, that's a bad version of a lawyer joke involving the expression "screw" and the response "out of what?"

The other CPA joke:

The elderly senior partner of the Big 8 firm (this is an OLD joke) walked into his office each morning of his working life. He took the key to his desk from his vest, unlocked the center drawer, pulled it out, looked inside, smiled and nodded his head. Then he closed the drawer and relocked it. His secretary of 30 years watched him do this for -- you guessed it -- 30 years. For 30 years, she wondered, "What's in the drawer?"

Eventually, he passed away. The secretary, upon learning of his death, slipped into the office. Using a hairpin (remember, it's an old joke), she opened the center drawer and there, written on a yellowed note card, taped with brittle Scotch tape in the exact center of the drawer was the the secret of the universe and of life its ownself:

"ASSETS ON THE LEFT -- LIABILITIES ON THE RIGHT."

[The Observer]

A CPA decided to explain the concept of ethics to his son. "Imagine that you have a wealthy client who has engaged your partnership to audit the books. During the audit you discover that there are monies that weren't reported and could easily be transferred to your own bank account without anyone being the wiser. Now this is where ethics come into play. Should you share the money with your partner?"

[Prof]

A CPA decided to explain the concept of ethics to his son. "Imagine that you have a wealthy client who has engaged your partnership to audit the books. During the audit you discover that there are monies that weren't reported and could easily be transferred to your own bank account without anyone being the wiser. Now this is where ethics come into play. Should you share the money with your partner?"

Again, a bad retelling of a good lawyer joke.