Low-Income Tax Filers Targeted With False Promise of Big Refunds

Michael Anderson and his wife, Kathy, spun his tax preparer’s electronic “prize wheel” and won a promise from the company to double their refund.

That never happened. Instead, the preparer charged the Andersons more than twice as much as Anderson says he was told, made mistakes on the federal return and, without Anderson’s permission, told the Illinois Department of Revenue that he wanted to donate his 2017 state refund to charity, according to a complaint filed last week by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul.

The complaint, made against Nu Republic LLC and Refund Republic LLC along with their owners and ...