Tax Fraud and Evasion

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The IRS takes very seriously these criminal investigations and the outcome of these investigations can result in the taxpayer’s indictment and incarceration. If you knowingly claimed excess deduction, under-reported your income or failed to file your tax return, you might be concerned of facing criminal charges. If you think you might be object of IRS criminal investigation, it is in your best interest to seek an expert legal advice immediately. If you are contacted by IRS criminal investigators, do not discuss or answer any question regarding your tax situation without consulting a tax attorney. You have the right to hire a tax lawyer to defend you.

The Criminal Investigation Division (CID) investigators are federal agents who are accountants, or CPA, trained to investigate in criminal tax cases. They will conduct exhaustive investigation by interviewing you, your family, business associates and even friends. Those special agents will review in details all your financial records looking for any unexplained wealth or any signs of fraud or evasion. Once the investigation completed by the investigators, they will recommend the case for prosecution and the IRS will conduct two more levels of review before final decision of forwarding the case to the US Department of Justice for prosecution. If the US Department of Justice approves the prosecution, the case is then sent to the local US Attorney’s office with direction that the named individuals be indicted and prosecuted. 

The excessive review and approval process can work to the advantage of the taxpayer and his counsel. There are numerous opportunities to derail a federal criminal case before it ever reaches the indictment. At each IRS approval levels and at the US Department of Justice Tax Division, taxpayer’s attorney will be able to meet with the government attorneys to attempt to convince them to decline the prosecution of the case. If the IRS has a strong case against you, the attorney is unlikely to be successful in avoiding prosecution. However, experienced tax attorneys can convince the Department of Justice or the IRS that the taxpayer made serious mistakes but never had the intention to engage in criminal conducts.