§2T1.4 Aiding, Assisting, Procuring, Counseling, or Advising Tax Fraud: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019
Of the 166 people sentenced under §2T1.4 in fiscal year 2019, 89 (54%) received a sentence below the guideline range without a government request. Only 36 (22%) were sentenced within the range. The median prison term was 18 months for the 122 people (73%) who went to prison.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › §2T1.4 Aiding, Assisting, Procuring, Counseling, or Advising › §2T1.4: FY2019
In brief: Of the 166 people sentenced under §2T1.4 in fiscal year 2019, 89 (54%) received a sentence below the guideline range without a government request. Only 36 (22%) were sentenced within the range. The median prison term was 18 months for the 122 people (73%) who went to prison.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 166 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019. 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.
Sentences Below the Range Without a Government Request
The advisory guideline range gives a starting point for each sentence. In fiscal year 2019, 36 of the 166 people (22%) received a sentence within that range. A sentence below the range at the government's request went to 39 people (23%), and a sentence below the range with no government request went to 89 people (54%). Above the range were 2 people (1%).
The records show where sentences fell. They do not give the reasons for any of them.
Who Is in This Group
The Sentencing Commission counted 166 people whose primary guideline was §2T1.4, titled "Aiding, Assisting, Procuring, Counseling, or Advising Tax Fraud." The fiscal year ran from October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019. The Commission's offense type for these cases is Tax.
Of the 166, 122 (73%) received a prison term, and 26 (16%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
How Long the Prison Terms Were
The median prison term was 18 months. A quarter of those sent to prison received 36 months or more, and a quarter received 12 months or less.
Supervised release was ordered after prison for 121 people (73%), with a median term of 12 months. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 7 people (4%).
Pleas, Trials, and Plea Agreements
A total of 153 people (92%) pleaded guilty, and 13 were convicted after a trial. After a guilty plea, the median prison term was 18 months. After a trial, it was 36 months, based on 13 people.
Plea agreements in writing covered 98% of the guilty pleas. Straight pleas with no agreement were 2%.
Restitution, Fines, and Criminal History
Restitution was ordered for 146 people (88%), and a fine for 12 (7%).
In criminal history, 73% of the group were in category I, the lowest, and 3% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Fiscal Year 2019 in Wider Context
Over fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 1,451 people were sentenced under §2T1.4, and 24% of them were within the range. Of the total, 71% were sent to prison, the median prison term was 21 months, and 92% pleaded guilty. The 2019 within-range share of 22% is lower than 24%, and the 2019 median is lower than 21 months.
The previous fiscal year, 2018, had 195 people, a 24-month median, and 28% within the range. The next, 2020, had 121 people, a 21.5-month median, and 26% within the range.
Under every guideline in 2019, 76,538 people were sentenced in federal court. Their median prison term was 21 months, 98% pleaded guilty, and 51% were within the range. The within-range share under this guideline is lower than for all guidelines together.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 181 | 24 months | 89% |
| 2017 | 161 | 18 months | 93% |
| 2018 | 195 | 24 months | 91% |
| 2019 | 166 | 18 months | 92% |
| 2020 | 121 | 21.5 months | 92% |
| 2021 | 138 | 18 months | 93% |
| 2022 | 139 | 20 months | 96% |
| 2023 | 126 | 24 months | 89% |
| 2024 | 112 | 20.5 months | 94% |
| 2025 | 112 | 24 months | 95% |
What the Data Does Not Cover
Only people who were convicted and sentenced are counted. Acquittals and dismissals are not in the data, and the prison terms are those imposed, not served.
The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2T1.4 (166), 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.
Mandatory minimum sentences. Many federal statutes on drugs, images of child exploitation, child sex abuse, and firearms carry mandatory minimum prison terms. The UCMJ has mandatory minimums only for a few offenses (a dishonorable discharge or dismissal for rape and sexual assault, and life for premeditated murder). Federal sentences for these offenses are partly set by Congress, not by the judge.
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)
- §2T1.4 Aiding, Assisting, Procuring, Counseling, or Advising Tax Fraud: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2T1.4 Aiding, Assisting, Procuring, Counseling, or Advising Tax Fraud: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2T1.4 Aiding, Assisting, Procuring, Counseling, or Advising Tax Fraud: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020 (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.