A South Florida lawyer has been criminally charged after admitting that he stopped filing taxes around 1997.  You just don’t do this.

Steven E. Siff, 56, of Davie, reported himself to the Florida Bar in October 2012, one month after the IRS served a subpoena on the Miami law firm where he worked, court records show.

Steven Siff said he was suffering from a “serious depressive disorder” that overwhelmed him and he developed a gambling addiction more recently, according to documents his lawyer filed with the Florida Bar.

An attorney/lawyer since 1982, he stopped practicing in 2012 and has asked the Bar to suspend his law license.

Steven Siff was charged Monday with three counts of failing to file an income tax return.

Prosecutors said Siff earned more than $8.2 million in partnership profits between 2001 and 2011.

He was charged with failing to report gross partnership income of more than $694,000 per year between 2009 and 2011.

The maximum penalty is one year in federal prison and a $25,000 fine per count, and payment of the appropriate taxes and penalties.