Be Wary of Tax Fraud

Asset Search Blog reports on when the Internal Revenue Service might just pop up in a divorce/family law case. Often enough, I have a client who wants to report the other party's hanky-panky with taxes. One situation mentioned in Divorce, Child Support & Reporting Tax Fraud is something new for me:

When the divorcing husband admitted in his affidavit that he had not paid taxes, the judge in Hashimoto v. De La Rosa, 2004 slip op. 51081(Sup. Ct. N.Y. County, June 23, 2004) reported him to the I.R.S. In Beth M. v. Joseph M., 2006 slip op. 51490 (Sup. Ct. Nassau County, July 25, 2006), the judge similarly reported a husband who testified during divorce / child support proceedings that he had not filed tax returns for the years 1997 through 2001 and other times. The admissions made by these two divorcing spouses could possibly have led to tax fraud charges pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 7201.

Nothing would prevent an Indiana judge from doing the same thing as these New York judges.

The article has also information on how to report to the IRS and on innocent spouse status.