The IRS streamlined filing compliance procedures allow eligible taxpayers to avoid potentially disastrous penalties and resolve their offshore bank account problems. Taxpayers who have failed to file Foreign Bank Account Reports (FBARs) and report their income from foreign financial accounts on their tax returns can face penalties of up to…
Tax fraud is a crime that involves intentional wrongdoing when failing to comply with a tax law. If you simply make a mistake when filing your taxes, the IRS may charge you with civil penalties, but they will not pursue any criminal charges. If, however, the IRS believes that you…
The idea of being sent to prison for making a mistake on your tax return may seem ridiculous — and also scary — to the average taxpayer. With so many regulations to follow that even IRS employees can become confused, how can a lay person with no tax expertise be…
The IRS can go after professional tax preparers with many different penalties related to filing inaccurate or fraudulent tax returns. Targeting tax preparers allows the IRS to affect a large number of tax returns because each tax preparer can be responsible for completing tax returns for hundreds of taxpayers. Some…
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…
The IRS may offer penalty relief for taxpayers who can show a reasonable cause for failing to file tax returns or pay taxes. IRS penalties can be waived in certain cases, but the IRS will examine all of the facts and circumstances to determine if a reasonable cause exists in…
An employee can be held liable for their employer’s unpaid taxes in certain situations. While most businesses withhold their employees’ income and payroll taxes and then transmit them to the IRS, there are cases where employers either do not withhold taxes or do not give the withheld money to the…
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,…
When faced with tax problems, managing the debt without destroying your budget can be daunting. Depending on how much you owe, it could take years to get out from under the financial burden. The longer it takes, the more penalties you face, including interest and potential tax liens or levied…
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…