After years of little activity, the IRS is again aggressively pursuing cases for tax evasion, false and fraudulent tax returns and failure to file tax returns. Hundreds of new Special Agents with the Criminal Investigation Division (CID) have been hired. As one agent put it "we're back in business."

"Working with the Justice Department, the IRS is ramping up its enforcement efforts, particularly for high-income individuals and corporations, so that Americans know that when they pay taxes, their neighbors and competitors are doing the same," said IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson. "We have arrested the decline in enforcement actions that began in the early nineties."

Recently, the IRS announced the following priorities for prosecution:

1. Using bogus trusts to conceal control over income and assets

2. Shifting assets and income to hidden offshore accounts

3. Claiming fictitious deductions

4. Using frivolous justifications for not filing truthful tax returns

5. Failing to withhold, report and pay payroll and income taxes

6. Failing to report income

7. Failing to file tax returns

The Department of Justice also enforced IRS summonses to promoters of alleged tax shelters for information about the shelters, including the identities of their clients. Assistant Attorney General Eileen J. O’Connor explained, “If you are thinking about using a tax shelter, you should keep in mind that the promoter is required by law to give the IRS your name and the details of your transaction. A tax-reduction scheme whose success depends on hiding it from the IRS isn't worth a cent of what the promoter is charging for it.”

Contact an Experienced Dallas, Texas
White Collar Law Firm

If you are under investigation for tax fraud or tax evasion, please contact Dan C. Guthrie Jr. He can be reached by phone at 214.953.1000, by e-mail, or by filling out the white collar criminal defense intake form on the Contact Us page.