Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN-9) today issued the following statement after learning agents from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigative Division searched the headquarters of Mo' Money -- a Memphis tax preparation firm.
"There is no room in Memphis for tax preparation scams that prey on the poor and middle class," said Congressman Cohen. "The U.S. Department of Justice has assured us that they take the complaints circulating throughout Memphis about possible scams and delayed tax refund returns seriously and have shared the information we provided with the relevant government agencies. If there was any wrongdoing, I have the utmost faith that the Department of Justice, the IRS, and the other federal agencies that might be looking into this will discover it and address the issue."
In March, Congressman Cohen met with Congressman Robert C. "Bobby" Scott (D-VA-3) and a senior Justice Department official to follow up on their February 7, 2012 letter to Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., requesting his office's assistance in addressing the problems their constituents are having with the Mo' Money tax preparation firm.
In late January of this year, both members' Congressional offices began receiving complaints from constituents regarding Mo' Money. The complaints alleged:
bounced checks issued by Mo' Money for tax refunds;
failure by Mo' Money to provide refunds the IRS had sent it for constituents who had filed their taxes through the company; and
excessive fees deducted by the company from refunds, and other problems.