According to the IRS website:
"The Failure to File Penalty applies if you don't file your tax return by the due date. The penalty you must pay is a percentage of the taxes you didn't pay on time."
This statement assumes you have not paid taxes on-time. What happens in a case where a person pays their taxes on time each year but simply chooses not to file a return?
According to Rick snipped-for-privacy@nospam.com:
26 USC 7203 says that failure to file or pay is a misdemeanor, with a fine of up to $25K and a year in jail. That is separate from the civil penalty for failure to pay.But it's hard to see why they would bother if they don't think you owe anything.
The IRS doesn't know all that the taxpayer knows until he/she puts it on a tax return, and signing that return puts the taxpayer on the record that his/her calculations are true and correct. Drafting a return to determine the bottom line, and paying what's owed, would logically lead to filing the return. Why would your hypothetical taxpayer do otherwise? Your suggested answers are as good as anyone's.
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