Tax avoidance is a legal way of avoiding payment of too much tax. It is taking advantage of existing laws and loopholes in attempts to reduce the amount of tax that is due while giving a full disclosure of one’s finances to tax authorities. People practicing tax avoidance do so by taking advantage of tax deductions or by changing the structures of their businesses or by establishing companies offshore. These are all legal and accepted by the government.

Tax evasion on the other hand is willfully avoiding payment of taxes through illegal means. This is punishable by law and could send you to jail and make you pay large amount in fines if proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

If you are earning by way of employment or business, you are legally required to pay taxes. Cheating on your tax obligation is committing a tax fraud which is a criminal act done by intentionally violating your own duty of voluntarily declaring and filing the accurate amount of your income tax. There are many ways of committing tax law violations; one is to willfully misrepresent your income to avoid paying the exact tax amount that is due. It also includes claim of false deductions, transferring or concealing taxable income or assets, misrepresenting or reporting deductions that are over the exact amount, having more than one book for your business, reporting of personal expenses as a business expense, and making false amounts in your business’ books and records.

If the IRS finds any misrepresentations or discrepancies in your taxes, you will be invited for an audit. In such cases, it is recommended that you hire a criminal tax attorney especially if you have knowingly claimed too much deduction, underreported your income, or if you failed to file your income tax returns. If you feel that you are susceptible and a likely subject of an IRS criminal investigation, hire the best criminal tax attorney that you can find. Having one will mean your freedom or time being incarcerated if ever found guilty by a grand jury. This is very important as investigation is likely to be conducted way ahead of you being notified. The CID investigators are experts in law enforcement and its techniques; when they see an irregularity in your tax declarations, they will be conducting exhaustive and long investigations before they recommend your case for litigation. They will be interviewing your friends and family, co workers, employees, business partners and associates and you. They will also be taking a close look and will be monitoring all your financial statements and financial transactions to find any evidence of tax fraud that could incriminate you.

If you have an experienced and knowledgeable criminal tax attorney, you will be able to take advantage of the different levels of review that is done in your case before it reaches a jury. During the review process, there are various opportunities where you and your counsel can strategize a defense and convince the government and the IRS that the errors were made without the criminal intention.