Stephen Baldwin cuts deal to avoid jail - for now - and pay back taxes

Actor Stephen Baldwin cut a deal to avoid jail time in connection with back taxes he owes New York State and Rockland County and may be given as much as five years to pay, according to his attorney.

In addition, his "sentencing will be postponed for a year," to March 2014, so the court can assess his debt payment progress, said litigation specialist Russell Yankwitt. The exact amount Baldwin, the youngest brother in his family, has to pay has not yet been determined, but will be "less than $400,000," and established by the next time Baldwin appears in Rockland County Supreme Court on March 29, Yankwitt said.

"He thought his tax returns were being filed. He never intended to defraud the government," Yankwitt said.