Justice Department Seeks to Bar Texas Tax Return Preparer

The Justice Department filed a civil complaint today in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas to enjoin John T. Ajuma, aka John Trobisch, from preparing federal tax returns for others.

The complaint alleges Ajuma prepared nearly 11,000 federal income tax returns from 2018 through 2024 through two sole proprietorships named “Destiny Tax Service” and “Momentum Tax Express,” which Ajuma operated from the same location in Hurst, Texas. According to the complaint, in a substantial number of these tax returns, Ajuma significantly overstated customers’ tax refunds by fabricating or inflating unreimbursed employee expense deductions, falsifying child tax credits by reporting bogus child and dependent care expenses and falsely claiming energy, education and other credits to which customers were not entitled.

By repeatedly understating customers’ tax liabilities, the complaint alleges that Ajuma may have caused the United States harm of almost $20 million in lost tax revenue from 2018 through 2022.

Deputy Assistant Attorney General David A. Hubbert of the Justice Department’s Tax Division made the announcement.

Taxpayers seeking a return preparer should remain vigilant against unscrupulous tax preparers. The IRS has information on its website for choosing a tax return preparer and has launched a free directory of federal tax preparers. The IRS also offers guidance on the credentials and qualifications that taxpayers should seek from their return preparer.

In the past decade, the Justice Department’s Tax Division has obtained injunctions against hundreds of unscrupulous tax preparers. Information about these cases is available on the Justice Department’s website. An alphabetical listing of persons enjoined from preparing returns and promoting tax schemes can be found on this page. If you believe that one of the enjoined persons or businesses may be violating an injunction, please contact the Tax Division with details.