Penalties associated with lying on your taxes

On Behalf of | May 22, 2019 | White Collar Crimes |

When you file your taxes in Arkansas, you may, like many others across the state, find the process confusing and complicated. Unfortunately, tax laws change all the time, and not keeping up with new changes has the potential to come back to bite you. So, too, can “guessing” or omitting certain information when filing your tax return. Attorney John Wesley Hall understands that often, state residents make errors on their tax returns not out of malice, but because they lack information, but he also recognizes that the penalties associated with lying on your taxes remain the same, regardless.

According to H&R Block, lying or omitting information when filing your taxes has the potential to land you in serious and considerable trouble. Just what types of penalties might you face for being untruthful on your taxes? If you are lucky, you may simply receive notification from the Internal Revenue Service that it caught a discrepancy in your tax return. Under these circumstances, you may be able to simply pay the difference you owe and move on with your life.

In other situations, though, lying on your taxes can take a much more serious toll. You may, for example, become the subject of an IRS audit, which essentially means that the organization will go over your taxes and review your situation carefully to make sure everything aligns. If the IRS determines that you did, in fact, lie on your taxes, you can anticipate having to pay some hefty penalties.

In some cases, you may also lose your ability to take advantage of certain tax credits in future years, and you may, too, potentially face criminal charges for lying on your taxes. You can learn more about white collar crimes on our webpage.