Criminal tax litigation is the process of legally prosecuting an individual who is believed to have committed a tax crime. Tax litigation occurs when the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) determines that someone has intentionally used illegal means to deceive the IRS in order to pay less in taxes.

The most common example of criminal tax evasion involves tax fraud. This offense involves committing a deceptive act in order to reduce an individual’s tax burden. If the IRS finds evidence of willful tax fraud, then criminal tax litigation can begin, particularly if the fraud occurs over multiple years.

Civil tax disputes are attempts for the IRS to recover owed taxes from individuals who failed to file their taxes or otherwise have a pattern of late or nonexistent tax return filings. A tax audit is a method used by the IRS to determine whether there has been some inaccuracies in a tax return. Criminal tax litigation is an effort by the IRS to impose monetary and criminal penalties on an individual that the organization believes has willfully and intentionally used illegal means to avoid paying taxes that they owed.

Criminal tax charges can result in monetary fines of tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars per offense. Additionally, criminal tax cases can come with periods of incarceration ranging from one to five years per offense.

The most important thing to demonstrate in a criminal case is that the defendant did not intentionally use illegal methods to avoid paying taxes. In order to establish this and navigate the criminal tax litigation process, a tax attorney should be retained. The best place to find a tax attorney is Attorney at Law.