- 35 -
D. Conclusion
Petitioner’s complaint with respect to respondent’s use of
fraud, deceit, and trickery in order to procure evidence for a
criminal investigation fails to establish any ground on which to
base any sanction of respondent in this case.
VIII. "Misuse of a civil tax examination as a guise to secure
evidence for use in a criminal tax investigation."
A. Introduction
In petitioner’s memorandum, he states:
Even if Respondent’s misconduct is placed in its
most favorable light, the conclusion must be reached
that the civil examination was used as a guise to
obtain evidence for the use in the ongoing criminal
investigation. The Respondent, however, may not
develop a criminal investigation under the auspices of
a civil audit. United States v. Grunewald, 987 F.2d
531, 534 (8th Cir. 1992). [Fn. ref. omitted.]
Moreover, the policy is stated clearly in the
Internal Revenue Manual (“IRM”);
[T]he Service should not attempt to use a
civil examination to develop a criminal tax
investigation. If a criminal investigation
is being developed with regard to a taxpayer,
the Service must respect the taxpayer’s
rights and follow Manual instructions
pertaining thereto. Therefore, under no
circumstances will these procedures be used
to develop a criminal tax case under the
guise of a civil examination.
IRM � 9311.83(1) (Apr. 8, 1985).
As this Court observed in Jones:
Any attempt to conduct a criminal
investigation under the guise of a civil
examination would have a chilling effect upon
Page: Previous 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 NextLast modified: May 25, 2011