Three court-appointed experts recently determined that billionaire Robert Brockman is competent to stand trial in the largest tax-evasion case in U.S. history. Robert claims to have dementia after being convicted of evading taxes on $2 billion in income and money laundering. Prosecutors say that Robert may be faking his dementia since he remained the CEO of software company Reynolds & Reynolds until November 2020.
Tax evasion is the deliberate avoidance of paying true tax liability by individuals, corporations, and trusts. And often means taxpayers intentionally are misrepresenting their financial assets to the IRS. Tax evasion cases are on the decline in the United States from 1,052 in 2018, 848 in 2019, and 593 in 2020. Although the IRS doesn’t pursue many criminal tax evasion cases, the consequences of tax evasion are steep. Those who commit tax evasion may face expensive penalties up to $100,000 for individuals or $500,000 for corporation and/or imprisonment of up to five years. Additional restitution for the cost of prosecution will also be imposed on the taxpayer. I.R.C. § 7201
Many tax evasion cases are discovered because of investigations that start from tax returns not being filed and unpaid taxes. However, if you’re like most taxpayers and make a good faith effort to file and pay your taxes accurately and on time, you won’t end up like Robert.
If you would like assistance with your taxes or managing your finances, you can trust us with your accounting needs. Call us at 502-708-1118 or email ahogan@riedelhogancpa.com. We would love to help you!