under section 1746 of title 28, United States Code, willfully subscribes as true any material matter which he does not believe to be true; is guilty of perjury and shall.. .be fined no more than $2,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both (18 United States Code Section 1621).
Although violation of the so-called tax perjury statute (Section 7206(1)) and the general perjury statute are serious felonies, for a variety of reasons the prosecutors can’t always convict. For example, a tax perjury conviction requires that there be a signed document, and a general perjury conviction requires that an oath be taken. There are other reasons, and because of them government prosecutors often turn to yet another federal statute an easier one to convict under for lying about taxes:
Whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of any department or agency of the United States knowingly and willfully makes any false...statements shall be fined not more than $10,000 or imprisoned not more than five years, or both.
Among the most significant points to be made about all these statutes is that if a false tax return is filed, prosecutors can bring multiple federal criminal tax charges under various federal felony statutes, including:
Section 7201’s tax evasion provisions, the tax perjury statute (Section 7206(1)), the general perjury statute (Section 1621), and Section 1001.
In sum, once there has been an affirmative, willful, material, false statement to the I.R.S., Section 1001 has been violated and, usually, there is no defense. more
