When does the IRS put people in jail?

 

Can you go to jail for not paying your taxes? Can the IRS put me in jail for not paying taxes? The IRS does not put ordinary people in jail for failing to pay taxes. However, they will put tax protestors and employers who don't pay payroll taxes in jail.

 
 

Attorney Tom Olsen: Hey Charlie, do they ever put average ordinary people in jail for not paying taxes, I mean people who literally can't pay them?

Attorney Charlie: They won't put someone in jail for not paying taxes. They will put someone in jail for being evasive, trying to hide money or assets. Sometimes being a tax protester, not filing returns after over and over, not paying the payroll taxes that they collect from employees. Those are the kind of things, but not just near the average person who just doesn't pay their taxes. They'll never put them in jail for that.