2021 Georgia Code
Title 48 - Revenue and Taxation
Chapter 1 - General Provisions
§ 48-1-6. Unlawful Filing of False Documents; Omissions; Tax Evasion; Penalty
- It shall be unlawful for any person, willfully and with intent to defraud the state, to:
- File any return, report, protest, or claim for refund containing any false or fraudulent statement known by the person to be false;
- Omit knowingly and intentionally any fact, circumstance, condition, or thing in any written document, the omission of which constitutes a material misstatement or misrepresentation of fact; or
- By any trick, device, scheme, or plan, evade or attempt to evade any tax, license, penalty, interest, or other amount due the state.
- Any person who violates subsection (a) of this Code section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
(Ga. L. 1937-38, Ex. Sess., p. 77, § 43; Code 1933, § 91A-9902, enacted by Ga. L. 1978, p. 309, § 2.)
JUDICIAL DECISIONS
Legitimately minimizing taxes permitted. - Legitimate arrangement of one's affairs so as to minimize or avoid taxes differs from sham transactions designed to camouflage the actual situation; the former are permissible, but the latter are disapproved and may result in penalty or criminal prosecution. Whitley v. Whitley, 220 Ga. 471, 139 S.E.2d 381 (1964), later appeal, 221 Ga. 140, 143 S.E.2d 634 (1965).RESEARCH REFERENCES
Am. Jur. 2d. - 71 Am. Jur. 2d, State and Local Taxation, §§ 512, 513, 514. C.J.S. - 37 C.J.S., Fraud, §§ 2 et seq., 161, 162, 184 et seq. 84 C.J.S., Taxation, §§ 542, 547. 85 C.J.S., Taxation, §§ 1715, 1723 et seq., 1742, 1785. ALR. - Right of grantor or transferor or his privies to attack conveyance or transfer made for purpose of evading taxation, 118 A.L.R. 1184.Misrepresentation as to tax law as within rule that party to contract or other instrument may not rely upon misrepresentation as to matters of law, 153 A.L.R. 538.
Test of "wilfulness" in prosecution for wilful failure to pay tax, file tax return, etc., under § 7203 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 (26 USC § 7203), 22 A.L.R.3d 1173.
Construction and application of 26 USCA § 6015(b)(1)(C) requiring that spouse not know of understatement of tax arising from erroneous deduction, credit, or basis to obtain innocent spouse exemption from liability for tax, 154 A.L.R. Fed. 233, 161 A.L.R. Fed. 373.
Construction and application of 26 U.S.C.A. § 6015(b)(1)(C), requiring that spouse not know of omission of gross income from joint tax return to obtain innocent spouse exemption from liability for tax, 161 A.L.R. Fed. 373.
