Announcement 2014-13 - Announcement 2014–13

Announcement 2014–13

Announcement of Disciplinary Sanctions From the Office of Professional Responsibility

The Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) announces recent disciplinary sanctions involving attorneys, certified public accountants, enrolled agents, enrolled actuaries, enrolled retirement plan agents, and appraisers. These individuals are subject to the regulations governing practice before the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which are set out in Title 31, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 10, and which are published in pamphlet form as Treasury Department Circular No. 230. The regulations prescribe the duties and restrictions relating to such practice and prescribe the disciplinary sanctions for violating the regulations.

The disciplinary sanctions to be imposed for violation of the regulations are:

Disbarred from practice before the IRS—An individual who is disbarred is not eligible to practice before the IRS as defined at 31 C.F.R. § 10.2(a)(4).

Suspended from practice before the IRS—An individual who is suspended is not eligible to practice before the IRS as defined at 31 C.F.R. § 10.2(a)(4) during the term of the suspension.

Censured in practice before the IRS—Censure is a public reprimand. Unlike disbarment or suspension, censure does not affect an individual’s eligibility to practice before the IRS, but OPR may subject the individual’s future practice rights to conditions designed to promote high standards of conduct.

Monetary penalty—A monetary penalty may be imposed on an individual who engages in conduct subject to sanction or on an employer, firm, or entity if the individual was acting on its behalf and if it knew, or reasonably should have known, of the individual’s conduct.

Disqualification of appraiser—An appraiser who is disqualified is barred from presenting evidence or testimony in any administrative proceeding before the Department of the Treasury or the IRS.

Under the regulations, attorneys, certified public accountants, enrolled agents, enrolled actuaries, and enrolled retirement plan agents may not assist, or accept assistance from, individuals who are suspended or disbarred with respect to matters constituting practice (i.e., representation) before the IRS, and they may not aid or abet suspended or disbarred individuals to practice before the IRS.

Disciplinary sanctions are described in these terms:

Disbarred by decision, Suspended by decision, Censured by decision, Monetary penalty imposed, and Disqualified after hearing—An administrative law judge (ALJ) either 1) granted the government’s summary judgment motion or 2) conducted an evidentiary hearing upon OPR’s complaint alleging violation of the regulations; and 3) issued a decision imposing one of these sanctions. After 30 days from the issuance of the decision, in the absence of an appeal, the ALJ’s decision became the final agency decision.

Disbarred by default decision, Suspended by default decision, Censured by default decision, Monetary penalty imposed by default decision, and Disqualified by default decision—An ALJ, after finding that no answer to OPR’s complaint had been filed, granted OPR’s motion for a default judgment and issued a decision imposing one of these sanctions.

Disbarment by decision on appeal, Suspended by decision on appeal, Censured by decision on appeal, Monetary penalty imposed by decision on appeal, and Disqualified by decision on appeal—The decision of the ALJ was appealed to the agency appeal authority, acting as the delegate of the Secretary of the Treasury, and the appeal authority issued a decision imposing one of these sanctions.

Disbarred by consent, Suspended by consent, Censured by consent, Monetary penalty imposed by consent, and Disqualified by consent—In lieu of a disciplinary proceeding being instituted or continued, an individual offered a consent to one of these sanctions and OPR accepted the offer. Typically, an offer of consent will provide for: suspension for an indefinite term; conditions that the individual must observe during the suspension; and the individual’s opportunity, after a stated number of months, to file with OPR a petition for reinstatement affirming compliance with the terms of the consent and affirming current eligibility to practice (i.e., an active professional license or active enrollment status).

Suspended indefinitely by decision in expedited proceeding, Suspended indefinitely by default decision in expedited proceeding, Suspended by consent in expedited proceeding—OPR instituted an expedited proceeding for suspension (based on certain limited grounds, including loss of a professional license for cause, and criminal convictions).

OPR has authority to disclose the grounds for disciplinary sanctions in these situations: (1) an ALJ or the Secretary’s delegate on appeal has issued a decision on or after September 26, 2007, which was the effective date of amendments to the regulations that permit making such decisions publicly available; (2) the individual has settled a disciplinary case by signing OPR’s “consent to sanction” form, which requires consenting individuals to admit to one or more violations of the regulations and to consent to the disclosure of the individual’s own return information related to the admitted violations (for example, failure to file Federal income tax returns); or (3) OPR has issued a decision in an expedited proceeding for indefinite suspension.

Announcements of disciplinary sanctions appear in the Internal Revenue Bulletin at the earliest practicable date. The sanctions announced below are alphabetized first by the names of states and second by the last names of individuals. Unless otherwise indicated, section numbers (e.g., § 10.51) refer to the regulations.

| City & State | Name | Professional Designation | Disciplinary Sanction | Effective Date(s) | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Arizona | | | | | | Tucson | Heckinger, Robert F. | Enrolled Agent | Suspended by consent (guilty plea in USDC of Arizona for 18 U.S.C. § 371 and 1014, conspiracy to provide false statements to influence a bank) (31 C.F.R. § 10.51(a)(2)) | Indefinite from June 24, 2013 | | California | | | | | | Visalia | Frantz, Mark A. | CPA | Suspended by decision in expedited proceeding under 31 C.F.R. § 10.82 (conviction under 26 U.S.C § 7206(2), aiding and assisting the preparation of a false income tax return) | Indefinite from August 19, 2013 | | Connecticut | | | | | | Milford | Thorndike, Thomas | Unenrolled Return Preparer | Suspended by default decision in expedited proceeding under 31 C.F.R. § 10.82 (conviction under 26 U.S.C § 7206(2), aiding and assisting the preparation of a false income tax return, and 26 U.S.C. § 7206(1), making and subscribing a false income tax return) | Indefinite from August 23, 2013 | | Florida | | | | | | Sunrise | Gass, Daniel G. | Attorney/CPA | Disbarred by default decision (failure to pay Federal Individual Income Tax Return for tax years 1999, 2004, and 2010; failure to pay Quarterly Federal Employment Tax Returns for 1st quarter 2009, 1st and 2nd quarters 2010, and 4th quarter 2011; failed to file Form 941 for the 2nd quarter 2012; failure to pay Trust Fund Recovery Penalty under 26 U.S.C. § 6672 for the 4th quarter 1997, 2nd and 3rd quarters 1998, 1st, 2nd and 3rd quarters 2001, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th quarters 2007, all quarters 2008 and 2009, 3rd and 4th quarters 2010, 1st and 2nd quarters 2011; and failure to pay past due Federal Employment Taxes for four businesses in access of $85,386.00. (31 C.F.R. § 10.51(a)(6)) | Indefinite from September 29, 2013 | | Louisiana | | | | | | Baton Rouge | Blackwell, Brian R. | CPA | Suspended by default decision in expedited proceeding under 31 C.F.R. § 10.82 (revocation of CPA license) | Indefinite from July 23, 2013 | | Michigan | | | | | | | | | | | | Ada | Rominger, Charles S. | Attorney | Suspended by default decision in expedited proceeding under 31 C.F.R. § 10.82 (conviction under 26 U.S.C § 7201, tax evasion) | Indefinite from October 25, 2013 | | Dowagiac | Ross, Jr., Charles C. | CPA | Suspended by default decision in expedited proceeding under 31 C.F.R. § 10.82 (suspension of CPA license) | Indefinite from July 15, 2013 | | Minnesota | | | | | | Brooklyn Park | Sea, Bobby G. | Attorney | Suspended by default decision in expedited proceeding under 31 C.F.R. § 10.82 (conviction under 26 U.S.C § 7206(1), filing false income tax return) | Indefinite from September 9, 2013 | | New Jersey | | | | | | Fair Lawn | Casale, Michael A. | Attorney | Suspended by default decision in expedited proceeding under 31 C.F.R. § 10.82 (suspension of attorney license) | Indefinite from September 9, 2013 | | New York | | | | | | Long Beach | Feerst, Barry R. | Attorney | | Reinstated to practice before the IRS, effective August 23, 2013 | | | New Jersey | | | | | | Rutherford | Gallagher, Joseph W. | Unenrolled Return Preparer | Suspended by default decision in expedited proceeding under 31 C.F.R. § 10.82 (conviction under 26 U.S.C § 7201, tax evasion) | Indefinite from October 30, 2013 | | North Carolina | | | | | | Waxhaw | Ashley, Cynthia S. | Enrolled Agent | Disbarred by decision (failure to timely file Federal Individual Income Tax Returns for tax years 2007–2011) (31 C.F.R. § 10.51(a)(6)) | Indefinite from October 9, 2013 | | Ohio | | | | | | Solon | Davis, Scott E. | CPA | | Reinstated to practice before the IRS, effective August 23, 2013 | | | | | | | | Pennsylvania | | | | | | | | | | | | Butler | Sulkoske, Jr., Edward B. | Enrolled Agent | Disbarred by decision (failure to file timely Federal income tax returns for tax years 2008-2011, failure to estimate taxes and pay tax liabilities for tax years 2009-2011, (31 C.F.R. § 10.51(a)(6)), and failing to respond to requests from IRS (31 C.F.R. § 10.20)) | Indefinite from August 18, 2013 | | Tennessee | | | | | | Springfield | Bell, Robert E. | CPA | Suspended by default decision in expedited proceeding under 31 C.F.R. § 10.82 (revocation of CPA license) | Indefinite from November 8, 2013 | | Texas | | | | | | Cotulla | Box, Cheryl A. | CPA | Suspended by default decision in expedited proceeding under 31 C.F.R. § 10.82 (suspension of CPA license) | Indefinite from September 9, 2013 | | Southlake | Ybarra (aka Mondrianh), Karena | Unenrolled Return Preparer | Disbarred by consent (permanent injunction in U.S. District Court barring practitioner from preparing and/or filing any federal tax returns, amended returns or other federal tax documents; and from representing anyone other than herself before the IRS) (31 C.F.R. § 10.8(a)) | Indefinite from November 8, 2013 | | Washington | | | | | | Vancouver | Christensen, David O. | CPA | Disbarred by decision (felony conviction for theft in Washington State Superior Court (31 C.F.R. § 10.51(a)(2)), and revocation of CPA license in Washington State and Oregon) (31 C.F.R. § 10.51(a)(10)) | Indefinite from August 23, 2013 |