§ 75 — Criminal penalties

§ 75. Criminal penalties.--(a) Attempt to evade tax.--Any individual,\ncorporation or partnership or any officer or employee of any\ncorporation, or member or employee of any partnership, who, with intent\nto evade any tax or any requirement of this local law or any lawful\nrequirement of the administrator thereunder, shall fail to pay the tax,\nor 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 local law, 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, or who shall fail to comply with the provisions of\nsubdivision (b) of section fifty-four after the service of a notice by\nthe administrator thereunder, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and\nshall, upon conviction, be fined not to exceed five thousand dollars or\nbe imprisoned not to exceed one year, or both, at the discretion of the\ncourt.\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 local\nlaw to be done before a certain date, a prosecution for such offense may\nbe commenced not later than three years after such date.\n (c) Willful failure to withhold.-- Any individual, corporation or\npartnership or any officer or employee of any corporation (including a\ndissolved corporation), or member or employee of any partnership, who\nwillfully fails to collect or pay over any withholding tax as required,\nshall, in addition to other penalties provided by law, be guilty of a\nmisdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined not to exceed\nfive thousand dollars or imprisoned not to exceed one year, or both.\n (d) 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 local law, 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\nto be consolidated. If a person or corporation shall be convicted of two\nor more 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 (e) 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 shall have concurrent jurisdiction with any district attorney\nin the prosecution of any offense under this section. If the provisions\nof this section conflict with those contained in any other law, this\nsection shall control. The certificate of the administrator to the\neffect that a tax has not been paid, that a return or declaration of\nestimated tax has not been filed, or that information has not been\nsupplied, as required by or under the provisions of this local law,\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 administrator and deposited in the same manner as revenues collected\nor received under this local law.\n