Tax evasion in the United States unlawful gains as income when filing annual tax returns (see e.g., "James v. United States") although such income is typically not reported. Suspected lawbreakers, most famously Al Capone, have been successfully prosecuted for tax evasion when there was insufficient evidence to try them for their non-tax related crimes. Reporting illegal income as earned legitimately may be illegal money laundering. In the United States, the IRS estimate of the 2001 tax gap was $345 billion. For 2006, the tax gap is estimated to be $450 billion. A more recent study estimates the 2008 tax gap in the range of $450 to
UBS tax evasion controversies in assets, in Switzerland, according to the findings. Ironically, the DOJ decided to charge Birkenfeld with a felony count of conspiring to abet tax evasion by one of his clients, Igor Olenicoff. In 2008, Birkenfeld pleaded guilty and, in 2009, was sentenced to 40 months in prison. Many advocacy groups from around the world criticized Birkenfeld's prosecution and sentence on the grounds that it would discourage financial industry whistleblowers. Birkenfeld was released from prison on 1 August 2012. On 11 September 2012, the IRS Whistleblower Office paid Birkenfeld a $104 million award for acting as a corporate whistleblower. The Swiss