§ 143 — Criminal penalties

§ 143. Criminal penalties. (a) Attempt to evade tax.--Any individual\nor partnership or member or employee of any partnership, who, with\nintent to evade any tax or any requirement of this title or any lawful\nrequirement of the director of finance thereunder, shall fail to pay the\ntax, or to make, render, sign or certify any return or declaration of\nestimated income, or to supply any information within the time required\nby or under the provisions of this title, or who, with like intent,\nshall make, render, sign or certify any false or fraudulent return,\ndeclaration or statement, or shall supply any false or fraudulent\ninformation after the service of a notice by the director of finance\nthereunder, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction,\nbe fined not to exceed five thousand dollars or be imprisoned not to\nexceed one year, or both, at the discretion of the court.\n (b) Limitations.--Notwithstanding the provisions of section one\nhundred forty-two of the state code of criminal procedure or of any\nother law of this state, a prosecution for any offense under this\nsection may be commenced at any time not later than three years after\nthe commission of such offense provided that, if such offense is the\nfailure to do an act required by or under any provision of this title to\nbe done before a certain date, a prosecution for such offense may be\ncommenced not later than three years after such date.\n (c) Two or more charges.--In the prosecution of offenses under this\nsection, if there are two or more charges against any person or\ncorporation, involving a violation or violations of any provision or\nprovisions of this title, whether for the same or different taxable\nyears, instead of returning several indictments or filing several\ninformations, all of such charges may be joined in one indictment or\ninformation, in separate counts, and if two or more indictments are\nfound or two or more informations are filed, the court may order them to\nbe consolidated. If a person or corporation shall be convicted of two or\nmore offenses constituting different crimes set forth in different\ncounts of one indictment or information, or in separate indictments or\ninformations consolidated as hereinbefore provided, the court may impose\na separate sentence for each offense, and if imprisonment is imposed,\nthe court may order any of such sentences to be served concurrently or\nconsecutively.\n (d) Miscellaneous rules.--Any prosecution under this section may be\nconducted in any county where the person or corporation to whose tax\nliability the proceeding relates resides, or has a place of business, or\nfrom which such person or corporation received any income, or in any\ncounty in which any such crime is committed. The corporation counsel of\nthe city imposing the tax shall have concurrent jurisdiction with any\ndistrict attorney in the prosecution of any offenses under this section.\nIf the provisions of this section conflict with those contained in any\nother law, this section shall control. The certificate of the director\nof finance to the effect that a tax has not been paid, that a return or\ndeclaration of estimated tax has not been filed, or that information has\nnot been supplied, as required by or under the provisions of this title,\nshall be prima facie evidence that such tax has not been paid, that such\nreturn or declaration has not been filed, or that such information has\nnot been supplied. All fines levied under this section shall be paid to\nthe director of finance and deposited in the same manner as revenues\ncollected or received under this title.\n