Dec 30, 2005 5:53 pm US/Central
IRS Audits Numerous Somali-Born Taxpayers
St. Paul (AP) ―
The Internal Revenue Service is auditing hundreds of Somali-born taxpayers nine months after a Somali tax preparer was indicted on tax fraud charges.
Yahya Muhumed Shakal of Minnetonka was indicted last April on 43 felony counts of tax fraud. Shakal, who operated as a tax preparer under the name Salama Tax Service in Minneapolis, has skipped bail and is considered a fugitive, the U.S. attorney's office said.
According to the federal indictment, Shakal, a former Hennepin County welfare worker, filed tax returns for the year 2003 on behalf of fellow Somalis. Nearly all of the 978 returns falsely claimed a fuel tax credit designed for off-road vehicles or construction equipment, for a total of nearly $2 million, the indictment said.
The taxpayers could be left on the hook. Individual taxpayers are responsible under federal law for all the information on their tax returns, regardless of whether they did the returns themselves or turned them over to tax preparers, said Janet Oakes, a St. Paul spokeswoman with the criminal investigation department of the IRS.
"They need to be as careful in choosing a tax preparer as they would a doctor or a lawyer, because they're entrusting them with their personal information," Oakes said.
The case is causing anguish for Somalis who went to Shakal.
Christina Cook, a tax attorney for the Legal Aid Society of Minneapolis, said fixing those cases "is probably over 90 percent of my caseload right now."
"They immediately audited everyone who went to him in the past three years," said Cook, who has worked on about 100 of the cases. "We were just flooded."
The audits require taxpayers to prove everything they've listed on the tax return. Failure to do so can result in penalties of 20 percent of the person's tax liability.
But many Somalis caught up in the alleged fraud scheme also can face problems trying to become U.S. citizens. Immigration officials look at a person's "moral character" and often ask to see tax returns.
Shakal's attorney, Rick Mattox, said Friday he doesn't know where Shakal is. He declined further comment.
The Immigrant Credit Education and Financial Counseling Agency in Minneapolis this year has helped some 2,000 victims of suspect tax preparers in the Somali community, said executive director Martin Mohamed.
"When they trust a member of their community and this person victimizes them, they really don't know what to do," Mohamed said.
-------
According to the Central Intelligence Agency, Somalia is an east-African country about the size of Texas with a population estimated at nearly 10 million.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
Click to enlarge
Stumble It!
