You may have gotten away for a little while, but the IRS is a well oiled-machine, designed to hunt you down. Literally, the IRS has machines that track Tax Cheater's patterns. They can see the "Trail of Lies" and follow it straight to you!
Remember: even if you made a simple mistake, it's still against the law, and you can go to jail!
Top Three Tax Cheats
The IRS is laser-focused on these three common tax cheat moves, just waiting for you to slip up!
1. Underreporting: Yes, underreporting is a crime! List your honest income and include any income you're making from side work, too!
2. False Claims: Don't claim dependents or medical expenses you don't have.
3. Innocent Mistakes: Make sure you review your tax paperwork very carefully, sometimes and innocent mistake can land you in a heap of trouble with the IRS.
Badges of Fraud
IRS Auditors and automated systems are trained to spot the following common signs of Tax Fraud.
1. Sources of income are not listed.
2. Deductions seem overstated by a huge margin.
3. Obvious personal expenditure deducted as business expenses.
4. Keeping two sets of books, or no books at all.
5. Taxpayer Transfering all of their property.
Crime Doesn't Pay: Tax Evasion and Filing False Statements can land you a jail sentence of up to five years. In both cases, you can be fined up to $250,000. With additional fees and expenses, it's clear that Tax Fraud doesn't pay!
