Comparative law notes
On one of its websites, the US Tax Authorities (the Internal Revenue Service or IRS" has indicated that it as follows: "The IRS understands that the tax code is a complex set of regulations and rules that are difficult for most people to decipher. When careless errors occur and if signs of fraud are absent, then the IRS will usually assume that it was an honest mistake rather than the willful evasion of the tax code. In this circumstance, the tax auditor will usually consider it a mistake that is attributable to negligence. Although unintentional, the IRS may still fine the taxpayer a penalty of 20 percent of the underpayment. The IRS can usually distinguish when an error is the result of negligence or the willful evasion of the tax law. Tax auditors look for common types of suspicious and fraudulent activity, such as: overstatement of deductions and exemptions, a falsification of documents, concealment or transfer of income, keeping two sets of financial ledgers, falsifying personal expenses as business expenses, using a false Social Security number, claiming an exemption for a nonexistent dependent, such as a child willfully underreporting income>'