Failure to pay

19. a. A person is guilty of a crime if he fails to pay or turn over when due any tax, fee, penalty, or interest or any part thereof required to be paid pursuant to the provisions of the State Tax Uniform Procedure Law, R.S. 54:48-1 et seq., as amended and supplemented, or any State tax law, with the intent to evade, avoid, or otherwise not make timely payment or deposit of any tax, fee, penalty, or interest or any part thereof. The crime shall be of the second degree if any portion of the tax, fee, penalty, or interest or any part thereof required to be paid or turned over was accrued through conduct committed in violation of section 2 of P.L.2006, c.56 (C.2C:20-11.2), otherwise it shall be a crime of the third degree.

b. The fact that any payment was made with a subsequently dishonored negotiable instrument shall constitute prima facie evidence that the actor failed to pay within the meaning of subsection a. of this section, and the trier of fact may draw a permissive inference therefrom that the actor did not intend to make the payment.

L. 1987, c. 76, s. 19; amended by 2025, c.39, s.7.