how many years in prison do you get if you dont pay your taxes?

Answer 1

The whole tax system is really interesting. The first income tax was in 1914. The IRS is woefully underfunded to do their job. A lot of people cheat, you have about a 1% chance of getting audited in any given year. Certain factors like being self-employed raise your chances of being audited. The IRS catches you by 1099s and W-2s that people pay you money send into the IRS and you do not file or if you file every year and then do not file, the IRS will want to know why. To not file taxes is a misdemeanor. If you seriously do not pay taxes like not filing for 3 yrs and have a tax liablity of 100K is a felony, you may face criminal liability. The IRS tends to go after large offenders or famous people like Blade Star, Wesley Snipes. The IRS has a super high conviction rate, it is bad PR when they lose so they put a lot into cases. Robert Hatch, first Survivor winner did not pay tax on his $1 million winnings plus other income, he did not take a plea deal and the judge thought he was a liar, he got like 50 or 60 months in prison. Most people that don't pay/file will face the civil side of the IRS which means penalties, interest, wage garnishments, tax liens, bank account seizure and all kinds of horrible devices the IRS has at their disposal. The taxes you owe can balloon. For instance there is an up to 25% penalty for not filing taxes for a given year, there is also a 25% penalty for not paying taxes that are owed, then there is interest of like 21%, there are other penalties too like a fraud penalty of up to 75% that can be applied.

Answer 2

Most people who don't pay their taxes don't go to prison unless they do something highly fraudulent or are very high profile.

But before you get to relaxed - if you don't pay your taxes, the IRS can and will seize your possessions, garnish your wages - and in general make your life pretty unpleasant. And ;you'd end up paying a lot more than you originally owed, due to interest and penalties.

Answer 3

It really depends on your individual situation--how long, how egregious, how much money, whether it was state (and which state) or federal, etc.

This is the federal law:

Any person who willfully attempts in any manner to evade or defeat any tax imposed by this title or the payment thereof shall, in addition to other penalties provided by law, be guilty of felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $100,000 ($500,000 in the case of a corporation), or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution.

Add: Martha Stewart? What? She was convicted of conspiracy, making false statements and obstruction of agency proceedings, nothing to do with taxes.

Answer 4

Ask Martha Stewart.

Answer 5

Depends on how much you owe.