A case from a few years ago involving undisclosed Swiss bank accounts demonstrates the pitfalls of failing to disclose foreign financial accounts, as well as what happens when you lie to IRS special agents. A New York resident pleaded guilty to corruptly endeavoring to obstruct and impede an investigation by…
If you owe tax and fail to file a return on time, the IRS can assess both civil and criminal tax penalties. The penalty for failure to file is separate from the penalty for failure to pay taxes, and both civil and criminal penalties can be assessed for the same…
The IRS reported 2,672 convictions for criminal tax violations in the 2016 fiscal year. While criminal tax charges are not common, the penalties —which can include jail time — are severe enough to cause any taxpayer to be concerned. Most criminal tax penalties can result in a five-year prison sentence…
Timely filing of IRS tax returns is always preferable to missing deadlines and facing tax return penalties for doing so. Failing to file tax returns leaves you liable for some potentially expensive penalties. Depending on how late, the amount of taxes involved and how many years of returns are delinquent,…
Failure to file tax returns can be classified as tax fraud by the IRS. While that term does manage to make it sound much more serious, failure to file by itself doesn’t often result in jail time. Still it’s not impossible—just ask Wesley Snipes! Usually though, the government wants taxpayers…