In October, Weld County Sheriff John Cooke and Dist. Atty. Ken Buck launched "Operation Numbers Game," serving a warrant to search thousands of federal income tax returns at the Greeley, Colo., office of a tax preparer with a primarily Latino clientele.

Authorities said the search yielded 1,300 names of people suspected of falsifying or stealing Social Security numbers. So far, 35 have been arrested for investigation of identity theft or criminal impersonation.

Of 5,000 returns they examined, they found 1,300 that had both taxpayer identification numbers and Social Security numbers, raising suspicions that the Social Security numbers were falsified or stolen.

Stolen numbers can cause a variety of problems for their rightful owners, such as damaging their credit or drawing the attention of IRS auditors.

So far, authorities have arrested 28 people. Those believed to have used stolen numbers are charged with identity theft, while those suspected of creating fictitious numbers are charged with criminal impersonation. Officials said they don't yet know how many of the 1,300 names will fall into each category because verifying Social Security numbers is a slow process.

Weld officials say the average return they analyzed showed a worker paying $800 in taxes, claiming many exemptions and a child tax credit, and receiving a refund of more than $2,000.

Originally posted by nunya13
reply to post by stevegmu

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Who cares if it's a major chain? I'm actually pretty sure I know who the chain is.

This guy is trying to become a citizen and was trying to do things right by paying his taxes even though the restaurant he was working for took advantage of his situation and grossly underpaid him.

He didn't file a fraudulent return. He relied on the expertise of a paid accountant to prepare a return for him. the accountant (who she informed me is actually a lawyer who has done this before) should have reported the restaurant. My boss, a CPA, told me that an accountant is required to report businesses for such behavior.

Obviously he's not going to be deported because she's in the process of getting him papers so he's already on the radar but no one's making him leave.

What the heck does ACORN have to do with anything?

This is what will happen, guaranteed. The restaurant will be reported. He will amend the tax return. He'll get his papers. he did what he was suppose to and filed a return to report his income and pay any taxes that were required. The tax return was filed improperly and that is the responsibility of the paid tax preparer, not the client who relies on the expertise of the accountant. The accountant will have to pay "preparers" penalties.