Chicago Tax Lawyers

President Barak Obama’s Budget proposal includes a provision to convert the crime of Willful Failure to File a Federal Tax Return from existing law where it is currently a Misdemeanor and make it a Felony for Willful Failure To File a Federal Tax Return in any 3 of a 5 consecutive year period and the tax liability is $50,000.00 or greater.  A criminal tax conviction could result in a jail term of 5 years and a penalty of $250,000.00.

The practicality of this proposal is that the IRS prosecutes Failure to File a Tax Return as a misdemeanor all that often (Wesley Snipes is one of the exceptions) opting more often for prosecuting Tax Felonies.  If Willful Failure to File becomes a felony then prosecutions could be more often and affect many of the taxpayers who regularly fail to file their tax returns.  Therefore those taxpayers who regularly fail to file their tax return will want to begin complying with the law starting now in 2012 for 2011 tax returns (the theoretical date the new provision would become operative)

For more information on how the new proposed failure to file penalties affect your tax situation or for assistance with other tax related legal concerns, contact Horowitz & Weinstein.

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