Order bars Cartersville tax preparer’s services

A Cartersville tax preparer has been permanently barred from preparing returns for others after a federal judge signed a civil injunction against him, the U.S. Justice Department announced Monday.

Larry Heath, who operated Heath’s Income Tax, Heath & Hames Income Tax and Heath’s Income Tax II, agreed with the court order without admitting that he repeatedly prepared federal tax returns that understated customers’ tax liabilities. The federal complaint also named his brother, Andrew Heath, but his case is pending.

The Internal Revenue Service had suspended Larry Heath’s electronic filing identification number, issued to businesses, when it suspected he was filing a large number of erroneous returns, the government said. Heath then allegedly sold two businesses but continued using their EFIN numbers to prepare returns.

The government’s suit against Heath alleged he fabricated losses, expenses, education credits, business expenses and charitable contributions on tax returns.