UPTOWN — Attorney General Lisa Madigan on Monday filed a lawsuit to shut down a tax preparer with an office in Uptown after defrauding customers out of "an estimated $200,000 in outlawed fees."
Madigan filed the lawsuit and motion for a temporary restraining order "to cease operations during the busy tax filing season to avoid consumers being further victimized by" Individual Income Tax Services, which typically serves low-income residents at its Uptown office, at 4548 N. Broadway, and across the South and West Side of the city. The company also has locations at 141 S. Pulaski Road; 242 E. 35th St.; 1959 E. 79th St.; 6250 S. Marshfield Ave.; and 11 S. Kedzie Ave., according to a news release from her office.
“We are asking the court to immediately shut down this company while the lawsuit proceeds so that no additional consumers are charged illegal fees to file their tax returns,” Madigan said.
Information obtained by Madigan shows consumers paid over $200,000 in illegal fees to the company and its operators — Dawit Gebre, Meles Tesfamarime, Frewoini Gebre and Dwayne Brown — using refund anticipation products. The Illinois Tax Refund Anticipation Loan Act was enacted in 2013 to combat the high cost of these products, the release said.
“Beware of tax preparers that push or require you to use a tax refund anticipation product, with promises of a faster tax refund because these offers will ultimately be riddled with costly prohibited fees," said Madigan.
Companies "pitch these products as a way to receive a tax refund instantly, but in reality these are short-term loans that often saddle consumers with high interest rates and fees that are deducted from their tax refund," the release said.
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