26 U.S.C. § 7202
Section 7202 · Willful failure to collect or pay over tax
Amended 1 time on record
Applied in 153 court decisions — leading case State Bar of Nevada v. Claiborne (1988)
Most recently applied in United States v. Kevin Shibilski (June 2024)
Cases citing this section usually also cite 26 U.S.C. § 7201 · 26 U.S.C. § 7203 · 26 U.S.C. § 6672
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Any person required under this title to collect, account for, and pay over any tax imposed by this title who willfully fails to collect or truthfully account for and pay over such tax shall, in addition to other penalties provided by law, be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $10,000, or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Cross References
Costs in criminal proceedings, see section 1918 of Title 28, Judiciary and Judicial Procedure.
Effective date of this chapter, see section 7851 of this title.
Period of limitation on criminal prosecutions, see section 6531 of this title.