International Automated Systems (fka IAUS)

[scion]

Justice Department asks federal court to shut down alleged solar tax scheme

From the December 3, 2015 issue of Public Power Daily
Originally published December 2, 2015
By Laura D'Alessandro
Integrated Media Editor
http://www.publicpower.org/Media/daily/ArticleDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=44879

The U.S. Department of Justice is asking a federal court to shut down two Utah companies that are running an alleged tax scheme targeting residential solar customers with a fabricated technology and false promise of tax credits.

The Justice Department on Nov. 23 filed a complaint asking the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah to stop the companies RaPower-3 LLC and International Automated Systems Inc. in Utah and LTB1 LLC in Nevada, as well as individuals R. Gregory Shepard, Neldon Johnson and Roger Freeborn from facilitating the allegedly abusive tax scheme.

Affected customers throughout the United States have filed more than 70 cases in the U.S. Tax Court regarding the scheme, according the the Justice Department. The department’s claim estimates more than $4 million in harm has been done to the U.S. Treasury for the Tax Court cases alone.

The named defendants have allegedly encouraged customers to buy what they are calling solar thermal lenses on a generation project in Millard County, Utah, the complaint said. The defendants are also promoting tax credits for investment in the “revolutionary” and “disruptive” solar technology, according to the lawsuit. But the Department of Justice said the defendant’s supposed technology is fabricated and the tax credits are not valid.

In addition to these statements to customers and potential customers being false, according to the Justice Department’s complaint, the defendants know it.

“The complaint cites a number of reasons that the defendants allegedly know, or have reason to know, about the falsity of their statements, including that the lenses and the facility do not and will not produce solar energy that could be collected and used for any purpose that Congress intended to encourage through tax credits and that their customers are not engaged in any legitimate trade or business related to the scheme,” the Justice Department said in a news release.

Tax credit requirements for solar generation are very specific — only recently did the Internal Revenue Service give guidance to an individual allowing for the credit to be used for purchasing ownership in a community solar project. There are specific requirements a taxpayer must meet in order to lawfully claim such benefits, the Justice Department said.

http://www.publicpower.org/Media/daily/ArticleDetail.cfm?ItemNumber=44879