Tax Attorney Long Island

FACT: The IRS reports that tax evasion is a widespread problem that grows each year costing the government an estimated $350 billion in unpaid taxes and creating a tax gap that grows by 10% each year.

FACT: The additional tax burden falls on shoulders of honest Americans.

FACT: Public services that are supported by tax dollars are affected as well.

FACT: Buying into tax evasion schemes can and will be costly, either in civil or criminal penalties or both, even imprisonment.

The Internal Revenue Service has identified small business and sole proprietorship owners as the largest contributors to the tax gap. Without significant investigations, there is no way for the government to control skimming or non-reported income by individuals who are self-employed or run small businesses.

While there are huge tax evasion activities happening all over the world, it has been estimated that the United States Government has collected roughly $350 billion less than it is owed by American taxpayers. We’re already seeing the IRS cracking down on both small businesses and individuals who evade their taxes with an increase in  tax audits and aggressive collection tactics, including bank levies.

Tax evasion is not to be confused with tax avoidance. The biggest difference? One is legal, the other is a crime. Tax avoidance is when someone works within existing laws to pay the least amount of taxes that the IRS says are due. Tax evasion, on the other hand, is when someone intentionally works outside of existing laws by not paying the taxes that are owed to the IRS.

And you don’t have to be a tax lawyer to know the red flags that cause the IRS to suspect tax evasion. If you intentionally fail to report your business cash receipts, including checks that are cashed at the maker’s bank, the IRS has specific audit programs that will investigate this activity. Also, if the amount of income reported on your tax return far exceeds the previous year’s – you will be flagged as suspect! Additionally, if you are one of those “do-gooders”  that helps others to file fraudulent tax returns and accept payment for this… that could be a problem.

Tax evasion encompasses any cheating of the government in taxes. Tax evasion is a felony and can carry up to a 5-year prison sentence and/or IRS penalties up to $100,000. Even in the current enforcement climate, taxpayers can learn how to save money by taking advantage of legal tax deductions to reduce their IRS bill. Additionally, anyone who owes  back taxes or is being audited by the IRS will need to know that there are options for negotiating a tax resolution. Working with a tax resolution specialist or  tax lawyer can greatly increase your chances of successfully resolving your IRS tax problems. However, it’s important to be informed in the first place so you can avoid becoming a target of aggressive IRS collection efforts that can financially cripple you for life.

For more information on achieving a tax resolution for your IRS problems or back taxes, visit www.taxresolution.com for a free tax relief consultation or call 866-IRS-PROBLEMS.

Tax evasion and tax avoidance are too distinctly different things.  Avoiding taxes is simply the practice of taking advantage of as many legitimate deductions and tax credits as you can in order to lower your tax liability.  Evasion is the criminal act of not paying taxes that you owe.

The Internal Revenue Service has more than 300 agents dedicated to the investigating and penalizing of taxpayers who attempt income tax evasion.  

The Internal Revenue Service audits taxpayers at random every year, but most audits are due to unusual activities when it comes to filing income tax returns.  Certain actions will trigger an Internal Revenue Service audit such as, too many deductions in proportion to earnings, and too little income claimed by a person with a lot of assets.

One of the rights you have as a taxpayer is the right to representation.  Take advantage of it and hire a tax attorney if you are faced with major IRS problems.

Contacting the Internal Revenue Service directly is not recommended.  After all, they do not have your best interests at heart.  They are considering the best interests of the federal government and their personal career aspirations.  They are not likely to work things out in your favor; they are more inclined to work things out in favor of the federal government.

There are three crimes that you can be convicted of in regard to income tax evasion.

The first crime under the penal code is tax evasion, which can impose a fine of $100,000 and five years imprisonment.

The second punishable offense the Internal Revenue Service can charge you with is filing a false income tax return.  Under this charge, the Internal Revenue Service does not have to prove that you had an intent to evade your taxes, only that you did file false returns.  Conviction can get you a $100,000 fine and up to three years in a federal facility.

The third crime of which you can be convicted under law is failure to file an income tax return.  As a misdemeanor, you can face 3 years imprisonment and a $25,000 fine for each year you failed to file your income tax return.

If you are facing the possibility of being charged with income tax evasion, you need to hire a tax attorney right away.  Forget trying to negotiate with the Internal Revenue Service yourself.  At this point, the Internal Revenue Service not only sees you as an uncooperative taxpayer, but as a criminal.  You are going to need good, professional representation if you are going to avoid jail time.

No one is safe from the IRS! Famous people have IRS troubles just like average people. But you have the edge over the A-list. You can learn very important lessons on how to avoid IRS tax problems from these celebrity tax evasion cases.

With paparazzi watching their every move and stalkers digging through their trash, being a celebrity tax cheater is an amazingly stupid thing to do. In the blink of an eye, celebrity tax cheaters can go from wearing designer fashions at fancy red carpet events to wearing orange prison jumpsuits for tax evasion. Fortunately, these celebrity tax evasion cases can teach important tax cheating lessons when the IRS accuses you of tax evasion.

Access Hollywood recently put together a list of celebrity tax cheaters who found themselves in taxing situations with Uncle Sam. Celebrity tax cheats also find themselves at the top of California’s list of the people who owe the most in back taxes, which is ranked by amount owed, not celebrity status.

If you think moving overseas will help your tax evasion plans, you should know that many countries such as the UK have set up special VIP celebrity tax evasion squads to go after high profile celebrity tax cheats. As many celebrity tax cheaters and regular Joes looking for a little tax evasion have learned the hard way, the world’s “tax havens” like Switzerland are no longer as secretive about their celebrity tax cheating clients.

The list of celebrity tax cheaters is impressive: Leona Helmsley, Al Capone, Judy Garland, Annie Liebovitz, O.J. Simpson, Luciano Pavarotti, Martha Stewart, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, David Brenner, Anna Kournikova, Lea Thompson, Method Man, Floyd Mayweather, Jim Thorpe, MC Hammer, Nicolas Cage, Stephen Baldwin, Toni Braxton, Robin Givens, Dionne Warwick, Sinbad, Buster Keaton and Willie Nelson.

Let these celebrity tax cheaters’ pains be your gain. Here are some important tax evasion lessons you can learn from these celebrity tax cheaters:

1. Marc Anthony’s celebrity tax evasion lesson: Trust, but verify. Celebrity tax cheater Anthony’s (singer, actor and J-Lo’s hubby) tax evasion problems started with four years of unfiled tax returns. With the help some of the best tax attorneys money can buy, he convinced the IRS that he didn’t commit tax evasion because he trusted his financial team to file the returns for him. According to Anthony, he didn’t know he was a celebrity tax cheater and was surprised to discover his team had gotten him on the hook for tax evasion. Because he convinced the IRS he wasn’t complicit in the unfiled tax returns, Anthony escaped the celebrity tax cheater label (and more importantly tax evasion jail time), but still had to pay $2.5 million in back taxes. The tax evasion lesson here is to confirm that your taxes have been filed. If you suspect someone on your team is making you a tax cheater, or hasn’t been acting properly, contact a tax attorney immediately.

2. Sophia Loren’s celebrity tax cheating lesson: Even an innocent spouse can end up doing jail time. The tax evasion case against the Italian screen siren had more to do with her celebrity tax cheater husband Carlo Ponti’s unpaid taxes, but Loren ended up doing 17 days of a 30-day sentence in a Naples jail for tax evasion. If you file a joint return, your neck is on the tax evasion line for your tax cheater spouse’s taxes. Many couples appoint one partner to handle the finances. If you feel your tax cheater spouse hasn’t been faithful with their taxes, take your returns to a tax attorney or tax resolution specialist to see if you qualify for innocent spouse relief.

3. Abbott and Costello’s celebrity tax cheating lesson: Don’t let your nice guy image get in the way of avoiding a tax evasion problem. Although he played the fool in the movies, Lou Costello (the dumb one of the comedy duo) was the more astute businessman and Bud Abbott (the smart one) was constantly making bad business decisions. Sometimes our self or public image prevents us from being assertive with our business and financial advisers when it comes to the topic of tax evasion. This lack of follow-through cost the celebrity tax cheating comedy duo dearly. According to Wikipedia, in 1956, the Internal Revenue Service charged the celebrity tax cheaters with tax evasion, forcing them to sell their homes and most of their assets, including their lucrative film rights. In 1957 they formally dissolved their partnership. Don’t let a tax evasion problem destroy your partnerships, always asks tough tax evasion questions of your financial team. And contact a tax evasion attorney or certified tax resolution firm immediately if you need tax help with your IRS problems.

4. Wesley Snipes’s celebrity tax cheating lesson: Write your politics on your blog, not on your tax forms. According to his tax evasion trial coverage, one of the reasons celebrity tax cheater Wesley Snipes didn’t file his tax returns was due to bad tax evasion advice that was politically motivated. Although failure to file your taxes is a misdemeanor, celebrity tax cheater Snipes was sentenced to three years of jail time and millions in back taxes and tax evasion penalties. You may have heartfelt political or religious feelings about how your taxes are used, or even the validity of the U.S. Government to levy taxes, but put those tax evasion thoughts in your blog, not on your tax forms. Once you file (or don’t file) your taxes, it becomes tax evasion, which can send you to jail. If you’ve gotten on the tax cheating side of a political tax protest, contact a tax evasion attorney before the IRS or other G-men come knocking on your door.

5. Richard Hatch’s celebrity tax cheating lesson: Don’t “forget” to pay taxes on income (especially when 51 million people saw you get it). As the first winner on Survivor, celebrity tax cheater Richard Hatch argued that he wasn’t guilty of tax evasion because he believed that CBS had paid the taxes on his million-dollar win (despite clear language in his contract explaining that he was liable for paying all taxes). If you get advice that says you don’t have to pay taxes on income, get a second opinion. If you make serious bucks, have your financial team’s tax work audited by another firm. If you think you’ve been given bad tax evasion advice, run, do not walk, to your nearest tax attorney or tax resolution specialist.

6. Joe Francis’s celebrity tax evasion lesson: Just because you’re incorporated, doesn’t make everything you grope a “deduction”. The celebrity tax cheater producer of the Girls Gone Wild videos claimed more than $20 million in phony tax deductions. His tax cheating returns were more like Accountants Gone Wild. If you’ve got some filer’s remorse, and suspect that you might be guilty of tax evasion, you can always file an amended return, but consult with a tax evasion attorney first. You don’t want your amended return to be seen as an admission of guilt for more serious tax evasion charges.

7. Darryl Strawberry’s and Pete Rose’s celebrity tax evasion lesson: What part of INCOME taxes don’t you get? At one time, celebrity tax cheaters Darryl Strawberry and Pete Rose were baseball’s biggest stars, making their autographed memorabilia very valuable. While these celebrity tax cheaters could rattle off their statistics for every season, the one figure they forgot to include was the income from autograph and memorabilia shows. When they autographed their tax returns without that income, they became celebrity tax evaders. Celebrity tax cheater Strawberry was ordered to pay $450,000 in back taxes, while celebrity tax cheater Rose had to pay $366,000 and went to jail for five months for tax evasion. If you’ve “forgotten” some income (such as eBay profits), you’re a tax cheater. Consult a certified tax resolution specialist or tax attorney on how to amend your IRS return without getting hit with severe penalties for tax evasion.

You may envy the fortune and glory of these celebrity tax cheaters, but if you take these celebrity tax evasion lessons to heart, you’ll have something more valuable than fame or fortune. You’ll have your financial and personal freedom.

Those who find themselves charged with some kind of criminal tax evasion may also be in the rather urgent need of a highly specialized criminal tax attorney. The reason(s) the tax authorities is after you may not matter that much. Regardless if you willingly filed false returns or if you forgot or simply made a mistake, a lawyer may be the only one who can get you out of trouble. Tax crimes are not taken lightly in most countries, and the various forms of IRS tax evasion certainly aren’t the exception to the rule.

Here is a brief outline of the situation when charged with braking the tax laws.

In the US, it is the federal government that will take care of the criminal proceedings. A criminal tax attorney is hired as your legal representation in these matters. The first step in most investigations will be to determine if the tax violation was committed on purpose or not. If it is clear that you knowingly neglected to follow the appropriate tax laws of your country, the charge will most definitely become a court case. Under such circumstances a good lawyer is always advisable.

As a rule of thumb, the criminal tax attorney will do whatever he can to try and prove that you in fact have done everything in your power to play by the rules – any form of criminal tax evasion was never your true intention. On the other had it is up to the IRS to, beyond reasonable doubt, prove that you did indeed commit a tax violation with a full understanding of what you where doing.

“Not knowing any better” is of course never a good enough excuse for any crime, but at least it shows that your intentions where in the right place.

At some point you will also be explaining yourself to an IRS agent, and it is a good idea to consult with your criminal tax attorney before that meeting. He or she will help you with what to say, so that you do not incriminate yourself further by mistake. Naturally you will be telling the truth to both your lawyer and the IRS, but in most legal matters the details are very important.

Your attorney will also be able to participate in these hearings and to communicate directly with the IRS lawyers, in order to present them with all the relevant information concerning your alleged IRS tax evasion. Like all other legal situations, your attorney should make sure all your rights are protected at all times.