Is someone safe if they report income from illegal means to the IRS?

while it's probably true that the IRS is more interested in you paying your taxes than prosecuting you because that income may have been "illegitimate," that doesn't mean that other agencies might not be interested in the information you provide to the IRS. The FBI/DEA/DHS could easily get a hold of those records and use them to pursue an investigation.

and, yes, your tax returns can be used as evidence in court.

this is why money laundering (obfuscating the origin of illegitimate earnings to make them appear legitimate, esp for tax purposes) is such a lucrative trade.

my advice: never volunteer information which could later be used against you.

American tax forms have an "other income" field. That's where you can report any money you've made not covered by the other fields including any ill gotten gains. That section doesn't require you to list a source, and even if it did nobody expects you to list "$7,800 - meth sales, $32,200 - crack sales, $50,000 - robberies". You'd just say "Other income - $90,000"

The logic being that if the government never gives you the opportunity to pay taxes on something, then they can't charge you with tax evasion. Plus there's a lot of money in crime! If the US can get a piece of that pie they will!

Finally, the IRS is an already underfunded organization and contrary to the popular narrative, is very easy to work with. If you make a genuine good faith effort to pay your taxes and they find issues, an agent will work with you to resolve it. They'll set up payment plans, defer payments, and more if you're cooperative. All this is to say that reporting people for crimes besides tax ones and terrorism (the only one they're legally required to report to outside agencies) just makes their job harder, so they don't

It is not a safe option.

It is designed as a catch all.

The FBI isn’t going through tax returns looking for Illegal income; rather if you’re suspected of illegal activity, they WILL go through your tax returns, because if you didn’t report your illegal income that is another law you’ve then broken. — See Al Capone

So. It is both a very bad idea, and a good idea to report your illegal income

A better idea is to not do anything illegal; or at least do the illegal thing offshore and hide the income there. Like a good multinational corporation would.

Now I'm not American but I did read something about this before but I'm quoting from memory... huge grains of salt to be taken with this.

Essentially I believe you can report it as "other income" not specify a source and refuse to elaborate if questioned or plead the 5th if it goes more serious. So in a way you are protected. They have to PROVE you got the money from committing a crime... "I'm just a lucky gambler". Im pretty sure Whitey Bulger used to pay 30% more than a winning lottery ticket was worth to people so he could cash the ticket and justify his wealth.

I cant imagine the FBI are trawling tax returns, but if you hit their radar for some reason it will probably flag you as someone to be looked at. Just remember, tax evasion is how they got Al Capone but money laundering is also a crime so which one would you rather fuck with?

It's more like if you get caught making money illegally and haven't paid taxes on it, you are also in trouble for tax fraud on top of your other trouble.

Always remember: law enforcement is legally allowed to lie to you, you are not legally allowed to lie to them.

Do you really need to know anything else?

Actually yes. Or well sort of. I believe some tax forms even have boxes for illegal income. This is because there is an odd interaction between two very important laws; you must report all income truthfully for tax purposes and you cannot be compelled to incriminate yourself. Tax law cannot overwrite the 5th amendment. This means they have a choice; either they can prosecute anyone they see as having an illegal income but make it so people writing nothing but "I plead the 5th" on all their tax paperwork is perfectly valid. Or they can choose not to prosecute reported criminal income and retain the ability to go after people who refuse to do their taxes. The only way the tax system can work is if reporting your own illegal income doesn't legally incriminate you.

The things you write on your taxes cannot be used against you in a court of law unless you are lying in some way. So it is legally safe. Practically perhaps not. Both the police and many of the security agencies love using something known as 'parallel construction'. It's where they get some information they shouldn't have access to or shouldn't be using and build an investigation that explains how they got that information legitimately so they can use it in court.

This is a conversation to have with a lawyer.

The IRS won't report you unprompted, but the FBI can get it from them, at which point you're fucked either way. If you reported it, they have additional evidence for existing charges, if you didn't, they add tax evasion to the list.

Why would the IRS need to know the source of the money? You generally don't have to report the source of income, just the income itself to IRS.

Now no person is going to directly report the drug money, it will be reported via a front company where cash transactions are normal and expected.

It was the tax man that brought down Capone.

you need to launder your money

Tax evasion on top of the other illegal activity can increase the consequences if you're caught. They tend to require warrants before divulging information to other authorities, however any information gathered through legal means can be used against you.

The main benefit of reporting the income is to reduce the likelihood that somebody gets suspicious of the change in buying habits and starts in investigation in the first place.

Here's a comprehensive list of what you should report as income to the IRS and yes it includes illegal activities and stolen property.

https://www.irs.gov/publications/p525#en_US_2023_publink1000229594

I think there’s only a camp on the IRS forms for illegal activity because some random criminal was charged with something and then tax evasion. He successfully argued it couldn’t be tax evasion cause there was no field for it and if he put it elsewhere, it would be fraud

Short answer: no

Longer answer: if it were that simple, then money laundering would not be a billion dollar industry.

You would need to weigh the cost of

The IRS realizing their is un-reported or misrepresented income

Vs

The IRS reporting legally reported but otherwise suspicious income to the FBI or DEA OR whatever

Stolen property. If you steal property, you must report its FMV in your income in the year you steal it, unless in the same year you return it to its rightful owner.

So, if I get it back do I then get a tax credit?