MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A federal lawsuit was filed Tuesday against three tax return preparers, all of whom used to work for Mo’ Money Taxes.
The suit seeks a permanent injunction barring Shandon Allen, Tabitha Tunstall, and Shewanda Hamilton from tax preparation. Click here to see the lawsuit.
All three were at some point managers or licensees of Mo’ Money Taxes stores. In 2012, they all became owners of Southern King Taxes stores. Tunstall and Hamilton also have business licenses for several MoneyCo USA locations.
The suit alleges the defendants “have created and maintained a business environment…that expressly promotes and encourages the preparation of false and fraudulent federal income tax returns.”
It goes on to say new employees are taught to prepare false and fraudulent returns to benefit the defendants, whose customers either “have low incomes and are unsophisticated with respect to tax law and tax return preparation” or are encouraged to go along with the fraud through misinformation about the law and the promise of “thousands of dollars of (illegal) refunds.”
The defendants are also accused of charging exorbitant and hidden fees, as well as pocketing a large amount of customers’ returns by telling customers their returns were “much less than what was actually reported on their tax return.”
In September 2013, the owners and another former manager of Mo’ Money Taxes were barred by a federal court from preparing tax returns and owning, operating, licensing or franchising a tax return preparation business.
Owners Markey Granberry and Derrick Robinson, and former manager Eumora Reese, agreed to the civil injunction order without admitting to any of the allegations against them.