Fort Lauderdale Tax Evasion Lawyer

There are many different wrongful acts or offenses involved in tax evasion charges.

• Failure to file a federal tax return
• Failure to Pay Federal taxes
• Failure to supply information to the IRS
• Failure to make accurate statements involving tax liabilities

The most common charges come from a taxpayer’s unwillingness to pay a tax or to defeat a tax.

To be convicted of tax evasion (26 U.S.C. 7201) in most federal jurisdictions, an Assistant United States Attorney must, beyond a reasonable doubt, prove to a judge or jury that:

The defendant owed considerably more tax than was report on the tax return;
The defendant was aware of the discrepancy reported on the tax return;
The defendant deliberately filed the tax return with the intent to evade payment of taxes to the government.

The Courts Interpretation of Tax Violations

A. A taxpayer may be convicted if the individual misrepresents not just net income, but gross income. United States v. Williams, 573 F.2d 284 (5th Cir. 1978).
B. Failing to report income allegedly skimmed from an employer when the taxpayer files a 1040EZ cannot be convicted for perjury and using the wrong form since Form 1040EZ does not include a line to report illegal income. Therefore not reporting the illegal income was literally correct. United States v. Williams, 573 F.2d 284 (5th Cir. 1978).
C. A taxpayer can not refuse to pay tax as a symbolic protest against the government. A defendant is not protected by the First Amendment for this conduct. To protest the United States involvement in the Vietnam War, one defendant was convicted of tax evasion for filing false withholding exemption. United States v. Malinowski, 472 F.2d 850 (3d Cir. 1973).

Possible Punishment

If guilty of a felony, imprisonment is up to 5 years and fined up to $100,000.
($500,000.00 in the case of a corporation).

Many times the defendant will be charged not only with tax evasion, but also with money laundering and conspiracy to commit the aforementioned crimes. It should be noted that parole in the Federal System has been abolished since 1987 and that removal of the conviction from public records (expungement) is not available.