Court Shuts Down Ohio Return Preparer and His Businesses

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio issued a permanent injunction today against an Ohio tax return preparer.

Emmanuel Antwi and his Cincinnati businesses — Manny Travel Agency & Business Services Inc. and Manny Financial, Insurance & Accounting Firm LLC — consented to the injunction, which permanently bars them from preparing federal tax returns for others. The United States’ claim for an order demanding Antwi turnover ill-gotten gains he received in the form of tax preparation fees remains pending.

According to the civil complaint, since at least 2020, Antwi filed hundreds of tax returns each filing season with at least 95% of the returns he prepared annually claiming a refund. Allegedly, Antwi knowingly took unreasonable or incorrect positions on returns he prepared that resulted in understatements of the tax his customers owed and overstatements of the refunds to which they were entitled to receive. In particular, the complaint alleges that Antwi prepared returns that claimed deductions for purported business losses or employee business expenses that he knew were false. The complaint also alleges that Antwi prepared returns where he knowingly reported the wrong filing status.

As a result of the court’s order, Antwi must send notice of the injunction to each person for whom he or his businesses prepared federal tax returns, amended tax returns or claims for refund between Jan. 1, 2019, to the present. Additionally, the order provides that Antwi must post a copy of the permanent injunction both on websites that he and his businesses maintain and at physical locations where any type of business is conducted.

Deputy Assistant Attorney General David A. Hubbert of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.

Taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant against unscrupulous tax preparers. The IRS has information on its website for choosing a tax return preparer and has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers. The IRS also offers 10 tips to avoid tax season fraud and ways to safeguard their personal information.

In the past decade, the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website. An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found on this page. If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details.