(a) No person shall willfully refuse to collect or to pay the tax or shall willfully refuse to make the return required to be made by this article or shall willfully make any false or fraudulent return or false statement in any return with the intent to defraud any taxing authority, or shall willfully evade the payment of the tax, or any part thereof; and no person shall willfully aid or abet another in any attempt to evade the payment of the tax, or any part thereof; and no officer, partner or principal of any corporation or association shall willfully make or willfully permit to be made for such corporation or association any false return, or any false statement in any return authorized by this article, with the intent to evade the payment of this tax.
(b) Whoever willfully violates any provision of this article shall for the first offense, be fined not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) or imprisoned for a period of not more than thirty days, or both. For each offense after the first offense, such person shall be fined not less than one thousand dollars ($1,000) nor more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) or imprisoned not more than thirty days or both.
(c) Every prosecution for any offense arising under this article shall be commenced within three years after the offense was committed, notwithstanding any provision of these Codified Ordinances to the contrary.
(d) Proceedings against any person under this section shall be initiated in the county of this State wherein such person resided if any element of the offense occurs in such county of residence, or if no element of the offense occurs in such county of residence, then in the county where the offense was committed.
(e) For purposes of this section:
(1) "Willfully" means the intentional violation of a known legal duty to perform any act, required to be performed by any provision of this article, in respect of which the violation occurs: provided, that the mere failure to perform any act shall not be a willful violation under this article. A willfull violation of this article requires that the defendant, with knowledge of or notice of such duty, intentionally failed to perform such act.
(2) "Evade" means to willfully and frauduelently commit any act with the intent of depriving the State of payment of any tax which there is a known legal duty to pay.
(3) "Fraud" means any false representation or concealment as to any material fact made by any person with the knowledge that it is not true and correct, with the intention that such representation or concealment be relied upon by the State.
(1960 Code 5-515)