§2T1.6 Failing to Collect or Truthfully Account for and Pay Over Tax: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025
From fiscal year 2016 through fiscal year 2025, 499 people were sentenced in federal court with §2T1.6 as the primary guideline. A prison term went to 343 (69%), and the median was 12 months. Supervised release was ordered for 343 people, with a median term of 36 months.
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In brief: From fiscal year 2016 through fiscal year 2025, 499 people were sentenced in federal court with §2T1.6 as the primary guideline. A prison term went to 343 (69%), and the median was 12 months. Supervised release was ordered for 343 people, with a median term of 36 months.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 499 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 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.
What This Guideline Is Called
The Sentencing Guidelines Manual gives §2T1.6 the title "Failing to Collect or Truthfully Account for and Pay Over Tax." The Sentencing Commission puts these cases in its Tax offense type, which had 499 people in this period.
Each person is counted once, under the guideline that set the offense level for the most serious count. The data includes only people who were convicted and sentenced.
Prison Terms and Probation
Of the 499 people, 343 (69%) received a prison term and 101 (20%) received probation only. The median prison term was 12 months. A quarter received 24 months or more, and a quarter received 6.5 months or less.
These are imposed terms, not time served. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 1 person, which is less than 1%.
Where Sentences Fell Against the Range
Most of the 499 sentences were below the guideline range without a government request: 298 people, or 60%. Another 110 (22%) were below the range at the government's request. Within the range were 86 (17%), and 5 (1%) were above it.
Criminal history was low. In all, 88% were in the lowest category I, and less than 1% were in the highest (VI).
Pleas and Trials
Guilty pleas accounted for 485 of the 499 cases (97%), and 14 people were convicted after a trial. Among those who pleaded guilty, 97% had a written plea agreement and 3% did not.
After a guilty plea the median prison term was 12 months. After a trial it was 25.5 months, based on 12 people who were convicted at trial and sent to prison. A group that small can move a median a long way, so the comparison is a weak one.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Restitution
Supervised release was ordered for 343 people (69%). A fine was ordered for 95 (19%). Restitution was ordered for 451 people (90%), a much larger share than the 19% who received a fine.
Trends From 2016 to 2025
Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 had 173 people and a median prison term of 14 months. Fiscal years 2020 to 2025 had 326 people and a median of 12 months.
The yearly table shows the number sentenced rising from 28 in 2020 to 70 in 2023. The median prison term was 24 months in 2019 and 12 months in 2024. Individual years are small, and the records do not explain the movement. The share who pleaded guilty was 89% in 2020 and 100% in 2022 and 2024.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 47 | 12 months | 100% |
| 2017 | 47 | 12 months | 98% |
| 2018 | 39 | 16.5 months | 95% |
| 2019 | 40 | 24 months | 95% |
| 2020 | 28 | 12 months | 89% |
| 2021 | 39 | 13 months | 97% |
| 2022 | 69 | 12.5 months | 100% |
| 2023 | 70 | 15 months | 97% |
| 2024 | 57 | 12 months | 100% |
| 2025 | 63 | 12 months | 95% |
Limits of These Numbers
The approved crosswalk has no close court-martial counterpart here, so the federal figures stand alone. The records do not describe the underlying conduct, and they leave out anyone who was not convicted.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2T1.6 (499), from the U.S. Sentencing Commission's 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)
- §2T1.1 Tax Evasion: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- §2T1.4 Aiding, Assisting, Procuring, Counseling, or Advising Tax Fraud: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- §2T3.1 Evading Import Duties or Restrictions (Smuggling): Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- §2T1.9 Conspiracy to Impede, Impair, Obstruct, or Defeat Tax: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (same guideline chapter part)
- 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.