GA Corporate Tax Fraud Defense Attorney

Personal income taxes are complicated and stressful enough, but corporate taxes are even worse. For this reason, businesses almost always work with professional accountants or corporate lawyers to make sure that they are in compliance with current tax laws. The biggest businesses even have employees whose entire job is record keeping for tax purposes. Getting audited by the IRS is stressful for anyone, but if the irregularities on your tax returns are truly the result of an honest mistake, then you might have to pay some additional fees, but you will not be charged with a crime. To avoid mistakes that could attract unwanted attention from the IRS, you should consult a professional accountant. Meanwhile, the crime of tax fraud involves intentionally falsifying records or making false statements on tax returns; it often, but not always, involves business taxes. If you are facing criminal charges for tax fraud, you need a financial crimes defense lawyer. Zimmerman & Associates in Norcross, Georgia provides representation in criminal defense cases as well as in matters of corporate law.

What is Tax Fraud?

In legal terms, fraud means making false or misleading statements for one’s own financial gain. Tax fraud is when you do this in order to reduce that amount of money that you or a business you control will have to pay in taxes. This often takes the form of making false statements on tax returns, such as by stating that the business earned a lower amount in revenue than it actually took in or that its business expenses were higher than they really were. It can also take the form of falsifying the company’s financial records in order to deceive the IRS if they decide to audit the business after receiving a questionable tax return. For example, you might state that certain money withdrawn from the bank accounts of the business went to a certain business expense (such as inventory to be sold to customers or fees paid to consultants), when in fact the company’s managers used it for personal expenses.

Legal Consequences for Tax Fraud

In isolation, tax fraud is a misdemeanor. You would be charged with a misdemeanor criminal offense if, for example, you led the IRS to believe that the $3,000 you spent on clothes throughout the year actually went to advertising and promotional materials for your small business, and therefore, is a business expense. If the amount of money you defrauded the IRS out of is big enough, though, the state can prosecute the fraud as a felony. Depending on the nature of the fraud, you could also be charged with additional crimes for embezzlement, money laundering, or conspiracy to commit any of these crimes.

Lawyers are your best hope in avoiding civil and criminal penalties related to corporate taxes or the IRS. To avoid mistakes that can lead to hefty tax penalties, contact a corporate law attorney. To avoid prison time for tax fraud, contact a criminal defense lawyer. To find either type of lawyer, contact Zimmerman & Associates in Norcross, Georgia.