Why We Avoid High-Risk Clients and Why YOU Should Avoid Tax Teams Making BIG Promises

There are obvious reasons why a qualified fully licensed firm would avoid such high-risk clients.

• Yes, they are difficult to work with.
• Yes, they insist on risky, if not illegal tax positions to hide income, wealth or their identity.

But what is often overlooked is that they present a risk to ALL the OTHER CLIENTS we serve.

What do I mean?

Let me give an example.

John Anthony Castro, owner of the virtual tax preparation business Castro & Company was on the top of the google search results. His YouTube channel, with most of the videos now deleted, @CastroAndCo was popular. His firm was the tax team of choice for thousands of expats. He was especially popular with US / Australia tax filers since he made certain guarantees that no other tax teams made.

Turns out the reason why he was able to guarantee such low effective tax rates and high refunds was because he was acting illegally.He was convicted of 33 counts of tax fraud and is facing 99 years in prison –  IRS Criminal Investigation

The Department of Justice reported that – “many of his former clients have since been audited and/or filed amended returns, causing them significant financial hardship”. –
U.S. Department of Justice Press Release

This outcome is further supported by a 2026 appellate court ruling on his case, which noted that his actions led to “more than 200 audits” of his clients.

Do you understand the point now?

In most cases when a tax professional is convicted of assisting in the preparation of fraudulent tax returns, many of the tax professionals’ former clients face audits by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”). An audit can subject the victim- client to assessments of significant additional income tax, penalties, and interest which can cause significant financial hardship.

So think twice. Think three times before falling for the flamboyant tax team promising the moon and the stars. If it sounds too good to be true? It probably is…