Awards & Recognition
If you have failed to file several years of federal personal income tax returns, you are at serious risk of being criminally convicted for several misdemeanors and facing overwhelming tax, civil penalties and interest which are imposed and then aggressively collected by the IRS. Depending on your actions in addition to a history of failing to file, you could even be at risk of felony federal prosecution for Spies Evasion. However, it is ordinarily possible to dramatically improve the situation and successfully mitigate any potential criminal tax consequences with our proactive and strategic defense that has never failed us.
With tax offices conveniently located in Oakland, the Tax Law Office of David W. Klasing is a nationally recognized, award-winning team of non-filer assistance attorneys and CPAs. We possess decades of combined tax and legal experience and make ourselves available around the clock to support the individuals and business entities we serve. If you need help filing back taxes and then working out a suitable collection alternative, our dedicated Oakland tax lawyers are here to offer you a turn key one stop solution to your problem. Start sleeping soundly again tonight!
What Happens if You Don’t File Tax Returns?
Nearly all U.S. adults are required to file a federal personal income tax return. Depending on the taxpayer’s age and filing status, the filing threshold for the 2018 tax year is $12,000. Note that this figure is subject to change from year to year.
Taxpayers should be warned that the failure to file returns will likely result in the imposition of serious penalties, which are explained in detail below. Moreover, failing to file a tax return essentially guarantees that the taxpayer will be unable to receive a tax refund, which is otherwise generally issued, at varying amounts, to most taxpayers who earn around $50,000 or less.
Is Failing to File Taxes a Crime?
The short answer to this question is that failing to file a single tax return can potentially be prosecuted as a criminal offense, depending on the circumstances. The difference between a criminal failure to file and a non-criminal failure to file is the taxpayer’s intent, or whether the taxpayer acted “willfully” (deliberately).
If the taxpayer made a single honest error, he or she will still be subject to financial penalties but will not generally be at risk of criminal prosecution followed by incarceration. However, a pattern of willful failures to file income tax returns, each count counting as a misdemeanor, can subject a nonflier to a maximum penalty of one year in jail per count and/or criminal fines of up to $25,000 under 26 U.S. Code § 7203 (willful failure to file return, supply information, or pay tax). The maximum $25,000 fine increases to $100,000 if the taxpayer is a corporation.
IRS Penalties for Not Filing Taxes
Even if the taxpayer makes an honest mistake in failing to file income taxes, he or she still risks a series of costly IRS civil fines and interest back to the original filing date of the return at issue. Though civil rather than criminal, the penalty for failing to file taxes can add up quickly: up to 5% of the amount due, which is applied toward each full or even partial month the return remains unfiled. This penalty is capped at 25% of the taxpayer’s unpaid liability.
On a related and crucial note, taxpayers should be advised that while an IRS tax filing extension will grant additional time to file the return, it will not grant additional time to pay the taxes due. Therefore, the taxpayer should make an estimated IRS payment by the normal filing deadline (typically April 15), even if he or she has requested additional time to file.
I Failed to File My Taxes, What Are My Options?
Unfortunately, there is no single answer to this question, as the appropriate strategy will vary from taxpayer to taxpayer depending on the facts and circumstances surrounding the failure(s) to file. For some taxpayers, it may be sufficient to simply file a delinquent return. For others, such as taxpayers who have multiple unfiled returns, or who owe substantial payments to the IRS, a more sophisticated and aggressive strategy may be required.
The role of our competent non-filer assistance lawyers and the CPAs on our team is to identify the strategy that will best help that particular taxpayer reenter tax compliance, while protecting him or her from civil and criminal tax penalties to the greatest extent possible. With deft legal representation, it is ordinarily possible to avoid criminal charges and mitigate the civil penalties being sought. No matter what the situation entails, it is in the taxpayer’s best interests to consult an experienced Tax Attorney who can assess the situation and explain what steps will be needed to get caught up on tax filings.
Oakland Unfiled Tax Return Lawyer and CPA for Non-Filer Help with Back Taxes
Unfiled taxes can place you into legal, professional, and financial jeopardy. Take corrective action now by working with the trustworthy, experienced Oakland Tax Attorneys and CPAs at the Tax Law Office of David W. Klasing. Whether you simply forgot to file taxes one year, have failed to file in the past due to concerns about inability to pay the IRS, or need to resolve a different type of issue involving unfiled returns, our team can help you explore the options for correcting the issue.
For a reduced-rate consultation, contact us online, call our Oakland office at (510) 764-1020, or call our main office at (800) 681-1295. Please note that our Oakland location is by appointment only.
Note: If you have concerns about the privacy of our initial or subsequent communication and are unable to easily travel to our Irvine / Orange County Main Office, consider scheduling a GoToMeeting to safely and securely establish an initial or maintain an existing attorney client relationship. With end-to-end encryption, strong passwords and top-rated reliability, no one is messing with your meeting. To schedule a reduced rate initial consultation via GoToMeeting follow this link. Call our office and request a GoToMeeting if you are an existing client. We are generally happy to travel to any of our appointment only satellite offices for a subsequent meeting in appropriate circumstances once a relationship is established via a signed engagement letter and the payment of an initial retainer or where enough retainer is available where a current client to cover the reasonable travel time and time required for the meeting.
Will it cost me more to hire the Tax Law Offices of David W. Klasing, who’s main office and the vast majority of the firm’s staff is located in Irvine California, but an appointment only Satellite office is close to my location, as opposed to a local company? Absolutely not! See our policies that address this issue here:
