criminal-law tax-law minnesota
How many years could Chauvin get for tax fraud?
<p>Derek Chauvin was charged with nine counts of felony tax fraud. I looked up the maximum sentence for tax evasion. It is five years. Does this mean that, from taxes alone, Chauvin is eligible for 45 years with multiplication. Is that true?</p>

<p>Chauvin is being charged under <a href="https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/289A.63" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Minn. Stat. § 289A.63</a>, which makes filing a false return a felony.</p>
<p>Criminal sentencing in Minnesota is generally done using a standard set of <a href="https://mn.gov/msgc-stat/documents/Guidelines/2019/StandardGrid.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">sentencing guidelines</a>, which sort of set a presumptive sentence based on the severity of the offense and the defendant's criminal history.</p>
<p>Filing a false return is currently classified at <a href="https://mn.gov/msgc-stat/documents/Guidelines/2019/MinnSentencingGuidelinesCommentary.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Severity Level 3</a> (see page 104), and Chauvin presumably has no meaningful criminal history. Looking at the grid, you'll see that his presumptive sentence would be a year and a day.</p>
<p>Minnesota presumes that simultaneously imposed sentences will run concurrently, and only certain offenses are eligible for consecutive sentences. Filing a false tax return is not on the list of offenses eligible for consecutive sentences, so Chauvin would presumably be sentenced to a year and a day, whether he is convicted of one count or 100 counts.</p>
<p>Given the severity level and the lack of a criminal history, though, at least some portion of Chauvin's sentence would be likely be stayed, with the court imposing some other sanctions as terms of his probation.</p>
