Turning Someone in for Tax Evasion
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Tax evasion is a serious crime that can lead to the offender serving up to five years in prison. Every taxpayer in the United States must report their earned income and pay their taxes accordingly.
If you suspect an individual or a business not complying with the tax laws, you can turn them in for tax evasion. The Internal Revenue Service has multiple measures for this that can get in the way of someone not paying their fair share of taxes.
How to report someone for tax evasion?
The Internal Revenue Service has Form 3949-A, Information Referral, which you can use to report someone for tax evasion. Since there isn’t a single type of tax evasion, you must notify the alleged allegations against them. Do this by checking the relevant box on form 3949-A.
Start filling out Form 3949-A.
On Form 3949-A, you’ll be asked to identify the person or the business and check the following boxes that apply to the violations.
- False exemption
- False deductions
- Multiple filings
- Organized crime
- Unreported income
- Earned income tax credit
- Public or political corruption
- False or altered documents
- Narcotics income
- Kickback
- Gambling or wagering
- Failure to file a tax return
- Failure to withhold taxes
- Failure to pay taxes
If the violation doesn’t meet the above descriptions, check the box saying other and describe it on Line 5. You’ll also need to provide additional details about the box you checked and explain the nature of the violations.
Turning someone in for tax evasion anonymously
Although you’ll need to detail your personal information on Form 3949-A, the IRS will keep everything confidential, and your identity won’t be revealed.
Use Form 3949-A only if you’re reporting someone for tax evasion. Don’t use it for the following purposes, which have different tax forms. The tax forms to use in these cases are also listed below.
Stolen identity: Use Form 14039.
Tax preparer misconduct: Use Form 14157.
Abusive tax avoidance scheme or promoter: Use Form 14242.
