Tax Fraud: Penalties and Sentencing

Tax fraud punishment can occur whenever an individual, business, organization or other entity intentionally misleads or provides incorrect information when preparing and filing a fraudulent return on their federal or state tax returns and is convicted of violating tax fraud laws. Tax fraud can include failing to claim money earned, inaccurately reporting how much money you earned, over-reporting or falsely claiming deductions or having two different sets of books for accounting purposes. In addition tax fraud can also include concealing or transferring assets in an attempt to avoid paying the required income tax.

Tax Fraud Penalties

Since tax fraud is a very serious type of criminal fraud crime and affects everyone, sentencing and tax fraud charges tend to be significant and typically reflect the level of fraud. Since the IRS, Internal Revenue Service, investigates tax fraud through their own office, the Crime Investigation Division, there is often considerable evidence of the fraud occurring before any charges are considered.

Possible Penalties

• Jail time
• Probation
• Significant fines and fees
• Full payment of all associated court costs and costs of prosecution
• Seizure of assets

Tax Fraud Sentencing

There are actually several different hearings that occur in a Tax Fraud investigation before the actual hearing that will establish any criminal sentencing. Getting an attorney involved as soon as you know there is an investigation will help you in early representation that may be able to clear up the misunderstanding and prevent the case from ever going all the way through to a court hearing. The IRS is more interested in clearing up the back taxes owed rather than incarcerating an individual or business in most cases.

Should You Hire An Attorney For Tax Fraud?

An attorney that has experience in working with individuals or companies under investigation by the IRS is your greatest asset. They can represent you at each meeting or preliminary hearing in order to attempt to organize a repayment or reassessment of your taxes and prevent a court cases. In addition the attorney may actually be able to work with the IRS to decrease the total amount owed, especially any interest that may have build up do the misunderstanding.

• If you have been charged with Tax Fraud, Submit Your Case for a Free Review from a skilled Criminal Defense Attorney.