Wendell Devallon and Berald Dominique, operators of Tax Time Group Inc. in South Florida, were permanently barred from preparing federal tax returns on February 3, 2022 and ordered to disgorge $353,000 for preparing false EITC returns — continuing after a January 2021 preliminary injunction against them, with disgorgement covering both pre-lawsuit misconduct and post-injunction violations.

Tax Time Group Inc. / Wendell Devallon and Berald Dominique — EITC Fraud After Injunction, South Florida (2022)

Outcome: Wendell Devallon and Berald Dominique, operators of Tax Time Group Inc. in South Florida, were permanently barred from preparing federal income tax returns by a federal court order on February 3, 2022, and ordered to disgorge $353,000 — reflecting misconduct both before the government filed suit and after a January 2021 preliminary injunction that they violated by continuing to prepare fraudulent returns.

Tax Time Group Inc. operated as a tax preparation business in South Florida, with Wendell Devallon and Berald Dominique as operators. The DOJ's Tax Division sued the defendants after identifying a pattern of false EITC returns and other fraudulent claims in returns prepared by Tax Time Group. A federal court issued a preliminary injunction against the defendants in January 2021, prohibiting them from continuing to prepare returns — but Devallon and Dominique continued their fraudulent return preparation activities in violation of the injunction.

The February 3, 2022 permanent injunction order entered the permanent bar on all future tax return preparation activities and all ownership or operation of a tax preparation business. The $353,000 disgorgement order was structured to account for two periods of misconduct: the fraudulent preparation fees received before the DOJ filed suit, and the fees received during the period when the defendants violated the January 2021 preliminary injunction. The case is illustrative of a common enforcement escalation pattern — DOJ civil injunction followed by violation of that injunction, followed by permanent bar and disgorgement.

Primary Source: DOJ Press Release — Justice Department Continues Efforts to Stop Fraudulent Tax Preparers