§2T1.1 Tax Evasion: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2025
In fiscal year 2025, 212 people were sentenced in federal court with §2T1.1 as the primary guideline. The median prison term was 15 months, and 139 people (66%) were sent to prison. Only 8 people were convicted after a trial.
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In brief: In fiscal year 2025, 212 people were sentenced in federal court with §2T1.1 as the primary guideline. The median prison term was 15 months, and 139 people (66%) were sent to prison. Only 8 people were convicted after a trial.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 212 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2025. Acquittals and dismissals come from a second source, the Federal Judicial Center's records of 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. It is part of the Federal Prosecution Analysis series, which builds on Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System. How the numbers were built: How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built.
The Median Prison Term in Fiscal Year 2025
Among the 139 people sent to prison, the median term was 15 months. A quarter received 24 months or more, and a quarter received 6 months or less. The median for all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline is 14 months.
Prison went to 66% of the 212 people, and 52 (25%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement. For all fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 63% were sent to prison.
Few Trials, Many Plea Agreements
A total of 204 people (96%) pleaded guilty, and 8 were convicted after a trial. Among guilty pleas, 93% had a written plea agreement and 6% were straight pleas with no agreement.
The median prison term after a guilty plea was 13 months. After a trial it was 33 months, based on the 8 people convicted at trial and sent to prison. With a group that small, the figure says little about trials in general. None of the 212 people with that information recorded had a mandatory minimum.
Guideline Range Position
Of the 212 sentences, 25% (54) were within the range. Below the range at the government's request: 30% (64). Below the range without a government request: 43% (92). Above the range: less than 1% (2).
For everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2025, 51% of sentences were within the range. The §2T1.1 figure is lower. In fiscal year 2024, 29% of sentences under this guideline were within the range.
What §2T1.1 Is
The Sentencing Guidelines Manual titles it "Tax Evasion; Willful Failure to File Return, Supply Information, or Pay Tax; Fraudulent or False Returns, Statements, or Other Documents." The Commission's offense type for the 212 cases is Tax. Each person is counted under the guideline that set the offense level for the most serious count.
Fiscal year 2025 ran from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025. Acquittals and dismissals are not in the data.
Supervised Release and Money Orders
Supervised release after prison was ordered for 138 people (65%), with a median term of 24 months. A fine was ordered for 56 (26%). Restitution was ordered for 202 (95%).
Comparison With Earlier Years and All Cases
Fiscal year 2024 had 248 people and a median prison term of 12 months. The table lists all years from 2016 to 2025. One year of data should not be read as a trend.
For everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2025, across every guideline, the median prison term was 24 months and 98% pleaded guilty. Those totals combine many offense types.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 414 | 15 months | 93% |
| 2017 | 437 | 15 months | 91% |
| 2018 | 322 | 12 months | 93% |
| 2019 | 328 | 18 months | 94% |
| 2020 | 203 | 12 months | 91% |
| 2021 | 232 | 14.8 months | 96% |
| 2022 | 262 | 12 months | 94% |
| 2023 | 237 | 12 months | 91% |
| 2024 | 248 | 12 months | 93% |
| 2025 | 212 | 15 months | 96% |
What Cannot Be Read From This Data
In the data, 88% of those sentenced were in the lowest criminal history category. Court-martial records have no criminal history field, and the approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart for this guideline. The federal numbers are therefore reported on their own.
The records also do not show the facts of any case or the reasons for a sentence below the range.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2025 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2T1.1 (212), U.S. Sentencing Commission individual data files. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.
Federal fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30. No person, judge, or lawyer is identified in any of these records.
What to Keep in Mind
No parole in federal prison; credit for good conduct. Federal prison has no parole for crimes committed on or after November 1, 1987. A federal prisoner can earn up to 54 days of good conduct credit for each year of the sentence the judge imposed, which is about 15%. Some federal prisoners can also earn First Step Act time credits, but many offenses make a person ineligible. The numbers in this post are the sentences judges imposed, not the time people actually served.
Federal supervised release. Most federal prison sentences are followed by a term of supervised release that the judge sets as part of the sentence. A person who violates it can be sent back to prison. A court-martial cannot sentence anyone to supervision after release. Military parole and mandatory supervised release are decided later by a board, not by the judge at trial.
Who decides the sentence, and under what rules. Federal judges sentence every federal case. They must calculate the Sentencing Guidelines range, which is advisory, and must impose any mandatory minimum the statute requires unless an exception applies. In courts-martial, the accused could choose sentencing by members until the rules changed. For cases in which every guilty finding is for an offense committed after December 27, 2023, a military judge sentences alone, within sentencing parameters. Courts-martial tried in 2024 and later include both old-rule and new-rule cases, and the data cannot tell them apart.
Time periods. Federal numbers are by federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), based on the sentencing date. The military numbers are by trial date. Neither source has the date of the offense, so a change in law shows up in either data set gradually.
How life sentences and "time served" are counted. In the federal numbers, a life sentence is counted as 470 months, and any other sentence longer than 470 months is counted as just under 470 months. A sentence of "time served" is counted as one day (0.03 months). Averages are affected by these rules; medians much less.
Related Analysis
- Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- §2T1.1 Tax Evasion: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2T1.1 Tax Evasion: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024 (previous or next fiscal year)
- How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range
- Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress
- U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles (source)
- Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants) (source)
About the author. Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts Where All The Bodies Are Buried and runs the Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.