Tax Auditing Question

[MySoS]

An audting question? Does any one know the penalty for lying on your taxes, (You report a taxable income of 20K when it should be 65K, post deductions), could you pass it off as a mistake. What will happen if your audited and the goverment finds out. I am worried that someone i know may be getting audited.

 

[Orsorum]

IIRC, if you can prove it was a mistake, you'd pay back-taxes + penalties + interest. If you are convicted of fraud the penalties are a bit more severe, probably jail time. I'm not a tax accountant yet, though.