Tips For Fighting Tax Evasion Charges

Every taxpayer has a legal obligation to file accurate tax returns. Reporting your income and tax liabilities correctly reduces your chances of an audit and protects against potential tax evasion claims. Tax evasion charges imply a willful avoidance of tax liability by underreporting earnings.

Fighting charges from the federal government is never easy, but there are options to defend yourself against tax evasion charges.

Insufficient evidence of intent

Proving tax evasion requires sufficient evidence of intent to defraud the Internal Revenue Service. It must be clear that you knew what you were doing and you made the decisions wilfully. If you can show a good-faith effort to report your income accurately and pay the correct tax balance or provide documentation that you had every reason to believe that the earnings you reported were correct, that may be enough to fight the charges.

Investigators violated your rights

Even IRS and federal authority investigations into tax evasion are bound by constitutional limitations. If the investigators violated your rights through the process, such as if they conducted a search without a warrant, any evidence gathered through that violation is inadmissible in court. Disallowing that evidence may be enough to weaken the case.

The government rarely pursues tax evasion charges without what they believe to be a sound case. That does not mean you have no means of defense. These are a few of the ways that you can defend yourself against charges of tax evasion, even if your returns are not free of errors.