Paying taxes can be hard, but not paying them at all or doing something that could be classified as an act of tax evasion can make things worse, if you’re caught that is. I’m not saying that you should use "methods" that can keep you from making the payments; I’m warning you or telling you that there will be corresponding penalties for tax evasion. Now in general, there are two categories that you may fall under when charged with such, the first being dependent on the amount you declared. A large amount of income tax due contrary to the declared amount can get you tagged "tax evader".

The IRS is strict when it comes to this, so you better watch out. The next category you may belong to would be intentionally avoiding the payment of taxes. There are a lot of chumps ranging from the low class to the high class doing this, particularly the latter (coz they have to pay more, naturally). What the Internal Revenue Service needs to know is that you knowingly avoid the payments for them to charge with the offense – so what are the consequences for tax evasion? Well again there are two categories here you may fall under as well, so let’s start with the category carrying charges of "lesser" gravity.

First off, we have civil tax penalties; under here there’s failure to pay, which has a penalty of up to 0.5% of the amount due after each month. The interest will pile up, but seize once it has reached its limit of 25%. Next offense would be not being able to file in the first place, which will have the same punishment as failure to pay, only the 0.5% becomes 5%. Next thing that’ll be penalized under the civil classification is none other than making understatements. Lots of hoping chaps do this, by declaring that a lesser income than what they actually earn, so that they may taxed lesser.

Here you could be charged up to 20%. Another way to join this "club" would to file information late, which would have a corresponding penalty of 15 to 50 dollars, depending on how late. Lastly, we have filing false or wrong figures in your return, or lacking information as to why the figures ended up like that – this will be penalized up to a whopping 500 bucks (ouch). These are only the minor offenses, so without further delay, it’s time to get down to the acts being punished with possible jail time. First we have making false statements. Then we have the filing of fraudulent returns, or willingly not filing a return at all.

There are some other offenses that you may commit that are considered so severe by the IRS, that they’ll be forced to resolve the issue by taking it to the court. Yes you can be put on trial for the acts mentioned, as well as others. And yes it’s very possible for you to hit the slammer for some time. These tax evasion penalties can reach the limits of severity – if your case is considered to be real bad, you can be charged a fine of up to 100,000 dollars, and a 5 year sentence in jail. If you don’t want that happening to you, then it’s best that you do NONE of the mentioned acts, and find out what the others are.