Failure to file federal taxes

My daughter's sister in-law and her husband have not filed taxes since 1998. If they file them now can they also be charged criminally? Would they go to jail with minor children?

Oddly enough, non-filing is only a misdemeanor but making a false statement on a return is a criminal offense.

The IRS figured out a long time ago that putting people in jail is not a good way to collect money, so they rarely do that. How much money can you earn by making license plates? They want the money, not your body.

Your relatives will owe the tax year by year plus penalties and interest. By now the penalties and interest will equal 70% or more of the tax due for the earlier years. The IRS will waive some of the penalties if you call them before they call you.

The penalties and interest are normally based on the unpaid amounts, i.e., if the tax owed was $ 5,000 and you had $ 2,000 paid in, you generally will owe penalty and interest only on the $ 3,000 due.

You can make installment payment agreements and sometimes, after much negotiation (better done by professionals) you can get a reduction in the balance due because of insufficient assets and income.

I would advise them to file immediately. They will probably find that they are due a refund, especially w/ minor children in the home. They can receive any refund due to them going back three years. They would not go to jail. Very doubtful they would face criminal charges. Tell them to contact a tax professional and file as soon as possible...it could be good news!!

talk to the IRS about this - they may be willing to settle the case with no prison time if they pay back taxes and interest

They won't go to jail if they pay now. They will, however, have to pay off the back years by a certain time as well as paying extra as a sort of "late fee" like when you don't pay a bill on time. However, if they keep prolonging it, they'll just get in deeper trouble and may have to go to jail, BUT only if they wait!

some guy told me he didnt do his income tax for 3 years, then he finally did it but ended up with abunch of penalties. The longer you wait the worse it is it seems.

If they fess up and file taxes and they aren't found to have committed fraud or anything crazy, they should be fine. I would recommend hiring a CPA to help them with this if at all possible.

The penalty for 'failing to file' is far higher that 'failing to withold'.
If you paid your taxes, but just never filed, they are halfway happy.

Talk to the IRS, they will work with you.

No, they won't go to jail. They can file now for the back years but they may have to pay penalties for not filing. If they have to find you, then you may be in some trouble. My husband did this to me before we got married.

Probably not, but they need to do it ASAP. If the IRS contacts them prior to them filing, then they will be up a creek. Tell them to DO IT NOW, and don't mess with the IRS. They can DEFINITELY go to jail with minor children. It's called Tax Evasion. Look it up on www.IRS.gov

Simply put, They won't go to jail if they come clean and try to 'fix' things. They need to start paying. They are going to have some serious fines. They may want to speak with an Tax Attorney before making a move so that they may be advised of their rights and best interest.
http://local.yahoo.com/results?fr=iy-text-lcl-res&stx=tax+lawyer

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=tax+attorney&rs=0&fr2=rs-top&ei=UTF-8&fr=FP-tab-web-t

Quoted:
Methods
There are many methods of tax resistance. In war-tax resistance circles in the United States it is sometimes remarked that there are as many ways to practice tax resistance as there are resisters.

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Redirection
Some tax resisters refuse to pay all or a portion of the taxes due, but make an equivalent donation to charity. In this way, they demonstrate that the intent of their resistance is not selfish and that they want to use a portion of their earnings to contribute to the common good.

For instance, Julia Butterfly Hill resisted about $150,000 in federal taxes, and donated that money to after school programs, arts and cultural programs, community gardens, programs for Native Americans, alternatives to incarceration, and environmental protection programs. She said:

I actually take the money that the IRS says goes to them and I give it to the places where our taxes should be going. And in my letter to the IRS I said: â€œIâ€™m not refusing to pay my taxes. Iâ€™m actually paying them but Iâ€™m paying them where they belong because you refuse to do so.â€[1]
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Refusing specific taxes
Some resisters resist only certain taxes, either because those taxes are especially noxious to them, or because they present a useful symbolic target, or because they are more easily resisted.

For instance, in the United States, many war tax resisters resist the federal telephone excise tax. Because this tax is typically small resistance very rarely triggers significant government retaliation. This form of resistance is popular in part because of its relative safety. Also, the phone tax was initiated to pay for the Spanish-American War and has frequently been raised or extended by the government during times of war, so it is an attractive symbolic target as a â€œwar taxâ€.

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Refusing to pay
The most dramatic and characteristic method of tax resistance is to refuse to pay a tax â€“ either by quietly ignoring the tax bill or by ostentatiously declaring the intent not to pay.

Some tax resisters resist only a portion of the taxes due. For instance, some war tax resisters refuse to pay a percentage of their taxes equivalent to the military percentage of the governmentâ€™s budget.

Other resisters withhold a symbolic amount â€“ for instance, in the United States, some might hold back $17.76/17.76% (symbolic of the revolutionary year 1776) or $10.40/10.4% (in tribute to Form 1040, which is used in federal income tax returns). In other countries, similar amounts symbolic of a certain year in their country's history (eg. 1788 or 1901 in the case of Australia) or a tribute to the form used for income tax returns in the country are held back in a similar fashion.

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Paying under protest
Some taxpayers pay their taxes, but include protest letters along with their tax forms. Others pay in a protesting form â€“ for instance, by writing their check on a toilet seat or a mock-up of a missile. Others pay in a way that creates inconvenience for the collector â€“ for instance, by paying the entire amount in low-denomination coins like nickels or pennies, or in certain cases $2 bills, knowing that not many people know that $2 bills are legal tender.

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Tax avoidance
A resister may lower the tax due by using legal tax avoidance techniques. For instance, one way to lower the tax due is by changing oneâ€™s tax status through incorporation, or establishing an offshore company, trust or foundation in a tax haven.

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Tax evasion
A resister may lower the tax due through illegal tax evasion. For instance, one way to avoid the income tax is to participate in the underground economy â€“ earning money that is never declared to the government.

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Reducing expenditure and income
Other tax resisters change their lives and lifestyles so that they owe less tax. For instance; to avoid an excise tax on alcohol, a resister might home-brew beer; to avoid excise taxes on gasoline, a resister might take up bicycling; to avoid income tax, a resister might decide to take in less income and take up a simple living or freegan lifestyle; and so forth.

These methods differ from tax evasion in that they stay within the tax laws, and they differ from tax avoidance in that the goal is to pay as little tax as possible rather than to keep as much post-tax income as possible.

I have some school grants that i need to file. Can i wait until next year to file these? If i file the grants for 2010, I would get a considerable amount lower. I would rather file it on next year's tax return. Can i do that or will I get in trouble?

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