The statute of limitations when intentional tax fraud has occurred

The public has been told that there is a six-year statute of limitations on Hunter Biden's tax returns, but there is actually no limitation when intentional tax fraud occurs, and that is clearly the case with Hunter Biden.

When it is determined that there is a substantial understatement in tax returns, the IRS will usually have six years to challenge the filing. However, this can be overturned when it is demonstrated that:

  • There was a filing of a false tax return
  • The taxpayer willfully attempted to evade paying taxes, or
  • The taxpayer filed a false or fraudulent return

If any of the three apply, the Internal Revenue Service can audit and charge interest and penalties without any limitations period.

Update: Yesterday, speaking with Bret Baier on Fox News's Special Report, IRS whistleblower Gary Shapley lamented the expiration of the statute of limitations on some of Hunter Biden's problematic tax returns.  But he should know that IRS regulations are clear:

 A tax fraud offense may result in both civil and criminal penalties. The normal 3-year statute of limitations does not apply if civil fraud can be sustained.

Further update:

The statute cited above provides for civil recovery of back taxes owed but not criminal prosecution beyond the statute of limitations:

A tax fraud offense may result in both civil and criminal penalties. The normal 3-year statute of limitations does not apply if civil fraud can be sustained. If fraud is established, there is no statute of limitation for civil assessments, IRC § 6501(c)(1) and (2). The criminal statute of limitations is usually 6 years from the time the offense was committed (5 years in some cases).

It is clear that Hunter Biden had the intent to hide his income from the IRS for years and that he had several helpers in committing the fraud.  Who signed and filed the false returns for him?  Was it an attorney or a CPA?  Why haven't they been charged?  Why don't we know their names?

Why don't the media care?  They targeted Trump for years with little to no evidence, yet they have massive evidence on the Biden family corruption, including Joe, yet seem to have little curiosity.  Could it be the "D" behind their name and the radical, leftist policies they push that causes the disinterest?  The question clearly answers itself.

The methods Hunter used to evade and underpay taxes were many:

IRS supervisory special agent Gary Shapley said Hunter's 2014 and 2015 returns involved a "scheme to evade his income taxes through a partnership with a convicted felon." At issue was the $83,000 a month Hunter received to sit on the board of Burisma, the Ukrainian energy company. The second (anonymous) whistleblower explained that in 2014 Hunter arranged a series of "sham" transactions so he "didn't report any of the money he earned from Burisma" — about $400,000 in 2014.

The whistleblowers say Hunter directed Burisma to pay his money to Rosemont Seneca Bohai, or RSB, an entity owned by his business partner Devon Archer, who was convicted of fraud in 2018. They say RSB would send the money to Hunter, who then "booked it as a loan." One obvious tax problem, explains the second whistleblower, is that "you can't loan yourself your own money."

Mr. Shapley says this loan ruse is a "textbook" evasion scheme (snip)

The second whistleblower says 2014 records show RSB paid more than $10,000 in Hunter medical bills, and purchased a $142,000 Porsche for Hunter's benefit via other money from a Kazakhstan businessman. The whistleblower says Hunter didn't report this as income.

We have also seen evidence from Hunter's laptop that Hunter and Joe had a joint checking account, and Hunter paid bills for Joe.  If that is true, and the income came from Hunter, those payments should be on a gift tax return if they totaled over $14,000 per year, which we can assume they did.  So why didn't Joe make sure that those gifts were reported?

We hear a lot from Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, and other Democrats about people not paying their fair share and that wealthy people should pay huge estate taxes, so why have they been silent about the Bidens?  It appears they don't really care about special people not paying taxes, so they should just shut up.

Joe and Jill also structured their taxes to save huge amounts of Social Security and Medicare taxes.  Their S corporations earned $10 million in 2017 yet paid only $245,833 in wages to themselves, which allowed them to avoid paying 2.9% Medicare taxes on $9,750,000, or around $300,000.

People like the Bidens, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett always lecture others that they should pay more in taxes while they work very hard to reduce their personal and corporate taxes.  Either they should stop structuring their taxes to reduce them, or they should stop misleading the public that they want to pay more.

Why do the media allow Biden to continually lie about what the rich pay in taxes?  He gives a speech that says the rich pay 8% when, in 2020, the richest 1% paid 26%, and the bottom 50% of taxpayers paid an average of 3%.

The answer to the question is that most of the media are propagandists pushing an agenda, just like Biden, and facts haven't mattered for a long time.

Why do Biden and others continually get away with lying that Trump's tax rate cuts cost the government trillions when revenues have actually substantially increased?  The answer again is that the only thing that matters to most of the media and other Democrats is a more powerful government with less freedom and money for the people.

Nancy Pelosi hasn't said a word about the Bidens' ethics and corruption but she is colluding with many in the media to lecture the Supreme Court about their ethics.  What a joke!  Nancy and her husband have achieved great wealth due to many timely investments.

When Nancy Pelosi lectures people about ethics, it is like:

  • Hillary and Bill telling people how to treat women with their history of mentally and physically harming women and seeking to destroy them.
  • Biden and Hillary telling Trump about the proper handling of classified documents.
  • Gore, Kerry, Obama, and Gates lecturing people about controlling their carbon footprint while living in many mansions and flying in private jets.
  • Obama, the WaPo, the NYT, and others lecturing people about the importance of facts with their history of lying, including about Russian collusion and the laptop.

Joe Biden and his son are clearly corrupt.  Sadly, most of the media don't care and that is causing great damage to the American people.  It is no surprise that so many politicians use corrupt means to achieve great wealth, with the help of a mostly compliant media establishment, especially when the corrupt politicians are leftists. 

If you experience technical problems, please write to helpdesk@americanthinker.com