26 U.S.C. § 7215
Section 7215 · Offenses with respect to collected taxes
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 8 court decisions — leading case United States v. Carini (1977)
Most recently applied in State v. Taylor (November 2003)
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 who fails to comply with any provision of section 7512(b) shall, in addition to any other penalties provided by law, be guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not more than $5,000, or imprisoned not more than one year, or both, together with the costs of prosecution.
This section shall not apply—
(1) to any person, if such person shows that there was reasonable doubt as to (A) whether the law required collection of tax, or (B) who was required by law to collect tax, and
(2) to any person, if such person shows that the failure to comply with the provisions of section 7512(b) was due to circumstances beyond his control.
For purposes of paragraph (2), a lack of funds existing immediately after the payment of wages (whether or not created by the payment of such wages) shall not be considered to be circumstances beyond the control of a person.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
1983—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 98–67 repealed amendments made by Pub. L. 97–248. See 1982 Amendment note below.
1982—Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 97–248 provided that, applicable to payments of interest, dividends, and patronage dividends paid or credited after June 30, 1983, last sentence of subsec. (b) is amended to read as follows: “For purposes of paragraph (2), a lack of funds existing immediately after the payment of wages or amounts subject to withholding under subchapter B of chapter 24 (whether or not created by the payment of such wages or amounts) shall not be considered to be circumstances beyond the control of a person.” Section 102(a), (b) of Pub. L. 98–67, title I, Aug. 5, 1983, 97 Stat. 369, repealed subtitle A (§§301–308) of title III of Pub. L. 97–248 as of the close of June 30, 1983, and provided that the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 [now 1986] [this title] shall be applied and administered (subject to certain exceptions) as if such subtitle A (and the amendments made by such subtitle A) had not been enacted.