{"id":7102,"date":"2026-01-16T16:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T21:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pattiphillipsbooks.com\/kerriansnotebook\/?p=7102"},"modified":"2026-01-18T10:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T15:40:08","slug":"kn-p-308-tax-fraud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pattiphillipsbooks.com\/kerriansnotebook\/2026\/01\/kn-p-308-tax-fraud\/","title":{"rendered":"KN, p. 308  &#8220;Tax Fraud&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/pattiphillipsbooks.com\/kerriansnotebook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/TaxFraudArticleIMG_4265-scaled.jpeg\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-7103\" src=\"http:\/\/pattiphillipsbooks.com\/kerriansnotebook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/TaxFraudArticleIMG_4265-225x300.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/pattiphillipsbooks.com\/kerriansnotebook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/TaxFraudArticleIMG_4265-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/pattiphillipsbooks.com\/kerriansnotebook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/TaxFraudArticleIMG_4265-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/pattiphillipsbooks.com\/kerriansnotebook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/TaxFraudArticleIMG_4265-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/pattiphillipsbooks.com\/kerriansnotebook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/TaxFraudArticleIMG_4265-1536x2048.jpeg 1536w, https:\/\/pattiphillipsbooks.com\/kerriansnotebook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/TaxFraudArticleIMG_4265-scaled.jpeg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; color: #800000;\"><a style=\"color: #800000;\" href=\"http:\/\/pattiphillipsbooks.com\/kerriansnotebook\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/TaxFraudArticleIMG_4265-scaled.jpeg\">If this post has no paragraph separations, please double-click on the title to create a more readable version.<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">In 1789, Benjamin Franklin said, \u201cNothing is certain except death and taxes.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">237 years later? It\u2019s still true.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">April 15<sup>th<\/sup> is tax day in the USA. By midnight that day, the bill must have been paid, either via mail date-stamped by the Post Office, or online. After that, if you owe money and don\u2019t send it in, penalties began to add up.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">Government at every level imposes taxes in order to pay its bills. Roads, schools, civil defense, water control, government employees, and more\u2026all get a piece of the revenue pie.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">So what happens if you don\u2019t file taxes? It is a <strong>crime<\/strong> not to pay and a definite no-no not to file. Since this is about money and the government needs more of it to run the programs, there are fines if you forget (or don\u2019t want to pay), even jail time in certain cases.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\"><strong><u>Penalties<\/u><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">Not filing taxes: 5% of the tax owed for each month the return is past due.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">More than 60 days late filing: A minimum fine of $435. Maximum fine is 25% of the total owed. (Plus the amount you owe)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">Not paying at all: 0.5% of the unpaid taxes for each month the outstanding taxes aren\u2019t paid, plus interest. Ouch.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">The government can choose to play nice with people \u201cwho have never done this before\u201d and there are extensions available. BUT, not everyone gets a pass and only in rare instances.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">Your house burns down? Better call the tax people and get an extension in writing. Those taxes are still due and penalties still accrue, but there might be a bargain to be struck if the agent is having a good day. You might be able to negotiate a six-month extension, but you still owe the money.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\"><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>True story<\/strong><\/span>: a former colleague hired a tax firm to do her taxes \u2013 fill out forms and assess the amount owed. The firm underestimated the debt and overestimated the deductions. The IRS conducts random audits and contacted her one year &#8211; after she had left the paperwork to the firm for about five years in a row. Short version: the firm had done a lousy job. She wound up paying back taxes and fines of over $20,000. Yup. Four zeros. She appealed. She was allowed to pay it back over time, but she still owed all the back money. The firm did little to help her, citing that they based their figures on the information she gave them. Hmmm.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">How long can you avoid filing taxes?<\/span><br \/>\n<\/strong>The powers-that-be have \u201csix years to charge you with criminal tax evasion.\u201d It can take as long as it likes to collect the money owed. Don\u2019t forget, there\u2019s interest charged on top of the penalties and money owed. Jail time is possible if they get you for criminal tax evasion. It\u2019s a felony, folks. PLUS, you\u2019ll probably get audited for years afterward.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\"><strong>What\u2019s the difference between evasion and avoidance?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\"><strong>Tax evasion<\/strong> is fraud and means that you have used illegal ways to conceal income, with fines, penalties, and possible jail time (maybe five years) if found guilty. You lied on the forms. They can even charge you for the cost of prosecution.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\"><strong>Tax avoidance <\/strong>uses legal ways to reduce income with tax credits and allowable deductions.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\"><strong><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\">WAIT!\u00a0 What counts as under-reporting?<\/span><br \/>\n<\/strong>Not reporting cash \u2018under the table\u2019 for legal or illegal activities. Whether child-care or gun-running, income is income, according to the IRS.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">Cryptocurrency transactions are taxable, so if you thought there were no rules, think again.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif; color: #0000ff;\"><strong>Whistleblowers:<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/span><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">There is a special IRS office that pays for information leading to the arrest (and conviction) of major tax fraud perpetrators. Big bucks are at stake if money is hidden in illegal overseas accounts. If it involves a criminal organization, witness protection might be part of what happens next.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">My advice? Pay what you owe. There are legitimate tax planners out there who can possibly help reduce your tax bill, but to evade altogether? Seriously bad idea if you\u2019re allergic to <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>jail <\/strong><\/span>and <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><strong>big<\/strong><\/span> fines.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; font-family: verdana, geneva, sans-serif;\">*information source: the IRS.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tax evasion or tax avoidance?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wprm-recipe-roundup-name":"","wprm-recipe-roundup-description":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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