Quote Originally Posted by walter View Post
i got a friend to stop signing income tax return forms and he did and his return goes through fine,
might be 5 years know of him doing it.
You are apparently in Canada, so I am not sure if you are talking about 1040 tax return or not. Internal Revenue Code Sec. 6065 requires returns to be signed under penalty of perjury. Federal courts have ruled that a return not signed is no return at all.

Notwithstanding the alleged success your friend has had, IRS could at any time decide his returns are not valid. Since you allege that he has done this for several years, his failure to sign would be obviously deliberate, and on that basis they could determine his returns to be frivolous ($5,000 fine for each return).

Not to presume any ill intent on your friend's part, but if he is avoiding signing the returns because of false information provided on the returns, he may be technically avoiding perjury. But IRS may be able to go after him for fraud or tax evasion, even if he did not sign the returns.

I have seen returns sent back by IRS simply because the signature was a photocopy and not a wet-ink signature. I have no personal experience with unsigned returns. Why bother filing at all if you are not going to sign the return? If you are giving honest information then what is the harm in signing it? If you are not going to be honest, you would be better off not filing at all than to commit fraud or evasion by giving false information.