Tax evasion is what’s known as a white collar crime, but that doesn’t mean you have to be a business executive or Wall Street stock broker to be found guilty of it. In fact, there are many regular people who find themselves in need of a tax evasion lawyer every year. To determine whether or not you are one of these people, let’s briefly discuss what’s involved in this offense.

A tax evader is any person who deliberately omits income on a tax return, fails to pay taxes owed, and/or fails to file a tax return altogether. Although this might just seem like an issue of paperwork that can be amended at any time, the Internal Revenue Service takes it very seriously. If the IRS believe you are guilty of tax evasion, you can be convicted of a crime. Although no person or property has actually been hurt, tax evaders face the same damaging consequences as violent criminals.

There are many reasons that a person might fail to report income, pay taxes, or file a tax return. Not all of them are necessarily malicious reasons, although the person is fully aware of what they’re doing. Perhaps you forgot about income that was earned as an independent contractor. You might also have prepared a tax return, but simply not had enough money to pay the amount that was due, and took no action to develop a payment plan with the IRS.

Regardless of why the tax evasion occurred, it’s important to realize that you must take action immediately. Consequences of a felony conviction can be up to 5 years in prison and up to $100,000 in fines.

The first step to avoiding the worst penalties is to contact a tax evasion lawyer such as Robert J. Degroot who can lay out a proactive journey back to the right side of the law.