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BERTHA DON'T YOU COME AROUND HERE ANYMORE, SAYS IRS

February 28, 2007

While the name "Bertha's Tax Service" sounds synonymous with "quality," the IRS doesn't see it that way. They want to shut Bertha down.

The IRS says Bertha's Tax Service as been less than punctilious in its tax preparation business. From the IRS complaint:

13. [Bertha] Steverson solicits basic information from her customers, which includes only amounts paid to them for wages and their number of dependents. Steverson reviews the customer’s information and tells them that she can increase their refund amount by including additional deductions (other income tax preparers would not claim.)

14. Steverson asks the customers to leave only their Forms W-2 with her, and she explains that she can “massage” their tax returns, to increase the amount of the customer’s tax refund. In most cases, Steverson’s customers were not provided an opportunity to review the income tax return before it was filed. Most customers reviewed
their income tax returns for the first time during an IRS audit. During the audits, the customers acknowledged the deductions claimed on their returns were false, and not based on information they provided to Steverson.

In Chicago nowadays, it appears "massage" is now a synonym for "mangle" or "abuse." I'll have to remember that if I'm ever there and have a backache.

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