Feds Play Coy On What Makes A Criminal Tax Case

Forbes reports:

The line between civil federal tax cases–money penalties only–and criminal tax cases–which can including prison–is blurring.

Officials of of the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Department of Justice declined to tell an audience of tax professionals in Beverly Hills Tuesday the criteria by which a civil case can turn criminal, a development that considerably ups the stakes for the taxpayer.

“There’s no check sheet or bright line whether something is civil or criminal,” said John Rossmiller, an IRS official who oversees such cases nationally. “Each case is looked at on a case by case basis.” His comments came during a panel discussion at the annual Tax Controversy Institute entitled, “The Short Road Between Civil and Criminal Tax Fraud.”

As hazy as the tax code.