Dead people were claiming tax refunds and the children of strangers were listed as dependents.
Those were among the bold scams that 26 Bronx and Manhattan tax preparers were allegedly using to claim the bulk of about $95 million in refunds since 2001, prosecutors said Thursday.
Besides seeing dead people, investigators also spotted deductions for businesses that don’t exist, inflated commissions and identity theft of people living in Puerto Rico, frequent victims of such scams because they have social security numbers but don't have to file federal tax returns, prosecutors said.
Exactly a week before the April 15th tax filing deadline, authorities on Thursday announced “the largest coordinated takedown of tax preparers in history” calling it, what else, “Operation Brass Tax.”
Full story: Tax Returns of the Living Dead | NBC New York