What are the penalties for not filing a federal income tax return?
The criminal penalty is a misdemeanor punishable by one year in jail and a $25,000 fine for each year of nonfiling plus costs of prosecution. Sometimes the IRS will punish multiple nonfiling years as a felony (tax evasion), punishable by 5 years in jail and a $100,000 fine (plus prosecution costs) for each year. Each unfiled year is a separate count in a criminal case. The statute of limitations for indictment is six years from the due date of each unfiled return. The most common civil penalties for nonfiling are: (1) late-filing penalty, late payment penalty, and estimated tax penalty, or (2) civil fraud penalty. There is no statute of limitations for these civil penalties if you failed to file a return.
