For any of you out there who are hiding income or assets from the taxman, please take the time to learn about how the statute of limitations rules work. I have had clients mistakenly believing that the passing of several years since the filing of their returns which deliberately omitted income will afford them protection.

The tax laws contain what is known as a statute of limitations. The statute prescribes the length of time permitted to the government to enforce the tax laws. If the length of time runs out for a particular tax year, then the government is forever barred from asserting tax claims or bringing an indictment against you. It is important to understand how the statute of limitations works, because in certain cases, the statute of limitations will be longer than others or it will not start to run at all.

Today’s blog posting focuses on the statute of limitations that applies in the case of the Government bringing a criminal indictment for the crime of tax evasion – for example – when a taxpayer files a return, but it is a false return that under-reports his income; or when the taxpayer willfully does not file a return so as to evade taxes.

Criminal Tax Evasion

The general rule is that the statute of limitations is for a six year period that commences once the tax return is filed; or from the date there was a willful failure to file the return when otherwise due. The six-year statute of limitations is Read More