Federal · Title 42 — Public Health and Welfare

42 U.S.C. § 1307: Penalty for fraud

Felony

What this law says, in plain English

This statute establishes criminal penalties for tax-related fraud (a misdemeanor) and for falsely impersonating someone to obtain social security or personal information (a felony punishable by up to 5 years imprisonment).

Read the full statutory text
Whoever, with the intent to defraud any person, shall make or cause to be made any false representation concerning the requirements of this chapter, of chapter 2, 21, or 23 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, or of any provision of subtitle F of such Code which corresponds (within the meaning of section 7852(b) of such Code) to a provision contained in subchapter E of chapter 9 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1939, or of any rules or regulations issued thereunder, knowing such representations to be false, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $1,000, or by imprisonment not exceeding one year, or both. Whoever, with the intent to elicit information as to the social security account number, date of birth, employment, wages, or benefits of any individual (1) falsely represents to the Commissioner of Social Security or the Secretary that he is such individual, or the wife, husband, widow, widower, divorced wife, divorced husband, surviving divorced wife, surviving divorced husband, surviving divorced mother, surviving divorced father, child, or parent of such individual, or the duly authorized agent of such individual, or of the wife, husband, widow, widower, divorced wife, divorced husband, surviving divorced wife, surviving divorced husband, surviving divorced mother, surviving divorced father, child, or parent of such individual, or (2) falsely represents to any person that he is an employee or agent of the United States, shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be punished by a fine not exceeding $10,000 for each occurrence of a violation, or by imprisonment not exceeding 5 years, or both.

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