The U.S. Justice Department has initiated legal action against three tax return preparers and their businesses operating in the Miami Gardens area, alleging widespread tax fraud. A complaint filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida seeks to permanently bar these individuals and their entities, including “The Tax Doctor,” from preparing tax returns for others and from operating any tax preparation business in the future. Accompanying the complaint is a request for a preliminary injunction, aimed at immediately halting the defendants’ tax preparation activities while the lawsuit proceeds.
The civil suit names John L. Gay Jr., Tammi King, and Norman G. Williams Jr. as defendants. In addition to preventing them from future tax preparation work, the Justice Department is seeking a court order compelling them to return all fees they allegedly obtained illegally through their fraudulent practices. According to the filed complaint, John L. Gay Jr. is the owner and operator of The Tax Doctor LLC, which runs three locations in the Miami Gardens vicinity. The legal document further details that The Tax Doctor LLC also encompasses two franchises, situated in Miami and Ft. Lauderdale. These franchises are reportedly owned and managed by Tammi King under the business names Kingsworld Financial Services Inc., and Brightstar Management Corp. Norman G. Williams Jr. is alleged to be working as a tax return preparer under King’s franchises, holding it as a secondary job.
The core of the allegations revolves around the defendants’ systematic manipulation of tax returns for taxpayers in the Florida area. The complaint states that these manipulations were often carried out without the taxpayers’ knowledge and were designed to significantly reduce their tax liabilities or falsely qualify them for various tax credits. The methods employed, as outlined in the complaint, included fabricating deductions for charitable contributions, creating fictitious unreimbursed employee expenses, and improperly claiming residential energy credits and head-of-household filing status. Furthermore, the defendants are accused of inventing business income or expenses to inflate claims for the Earned Income Tax Credit. The cumulative effect of these alleged actions, according to the Justice Department, has resulted in millions of dollars in lost tax revenue for the United States government.
One particularly striking example highlighted in the complaint involves Norman G. Williams Jr. The allegations detail that in 2020 alone, Williams purportedly claimed over $1.3 million in fabricated or inflated charitable contributions for 96 of his fellow firefighters. As a direct consequence of these fraudulent returns, these firefighters, along with numerous other clients of the defendants, now face the burden of repaying the improperly claimed income tax refunds, along with penalties and accrued interest.
The IRS emphasizes that return preparer fraud is a serious issue, consistently featured in their annual “Dirty Dozen Tax Scams” list. Taxpayers are strongly advised to exercise caution and vigilance when selecting a tax preparer. The IRS provides resources on its website to aid taxpayers in choosing a reputable tax professional, including a free directory of federal tax preparers. For those with adjusted gross income under $72,000, IRS Free File offers free online tax preparation and filing options through IRS partner websites. Even for those above this income threshold, IRS Free File provides access to electronic federal tax forms that can be completed and filed online at no cost.
Over the past decade, the Justice Department’s Tax Division has actively pursued and obtained injunctions against numerous unscrupulous tax preparers. Detailed information about these past cases is publicly available on the Justice Department website. The website also maintains an alphabetical listing of individuals and businesses that have been legally barred from preparing tax returns or promoting tax schemes. Individuals who suspect that an enjoined person or business might be violating an injunction are encouraged to report it to the Tax Division with specific details.
