Accusations of evading taxes are serious and should not be taken lightly by Connecticut residents who find themselves in the state’s or Internal Revenue Service’s line of fire. In a previously written article, this column discussed one of several defense options available when dealing with tax evasion charges. Today, that discussion is continued with yet another defense option: insufficient evidence.
Tax evasion, by definition, is the deliberate failure to pay taxes — either at all or in full. The key word here is deliberate. Making a mistake on one’s tax return is not tax evasion, as was talked about in the previous post on this topic.
In order to be convicted on a tax evasion charge, it is up to prosecuting attorneys to prove that a person intended to defraud the government. In order to prove this, sufficient evidence is required. Such evidence may include:
- The filing of one or more false tax returns
- The concealing of income
- The destruction of records
- The overstating of deductions
- Bookkeeping discrepancies
The list can go on. All of these are deemed willful acts and intentional violations of a person’s legal duty to pay taxes to the government. It may seem impossible to fight charges of tax evasion when the government claims to have so much evidence against a person, but the truth is, by asking the right questions, information may come to light that makes it possible to prove that there is insufficient evidence in one’s case. Legal counsel will know what questions to ask in order to determine if this defense option will stand in a Connecticut or federal court.