Maybe it’s not as philosophical as, “If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is there to hear it, does it make a sound?,” but the question that vexes tax professionals is, “How false does a tax return need to be before a taxpayer might be charged with a tax crime?” It is not always clear.

The U.S. Sentencing Commission, which provides sentencing guidelines, collects substantial amounts of information on sentencing, including dozens of data points for every criminal case. The data are publicly available, permitting an analysis of specific categories of crimes, including tax crimes.

Originally published in the Summer 2021 edition of the Pennsylvania CPA Journal.