Under the Federal Rules of Evidence, evidence of other crimes or acts, including prior convictions, is inadmissible solely to prove that the defendant likely acted in conformity with the previous crimes or acts in the case at bar. However, this type of relevant evidence may be admissible by the government to show a similar motive, opportunity, intent, preparation, plan, knowledge, or absence of mistake to the case at bar. For this type of evidence to be admissible, it must be held to be relevant to an issue other than the defendant’s character and, in the court’s opinion, its probative value must not be substantially outweighed by its tendency to unduly prejudice the jury against the defendant. As a result of these exceptions, evidence of other tax crimes, or other criminal convictions, often is admissible in a subsequent criminal tax trial.
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