Criminal Practice and Procedures p1
Criminal Practice and Procedures p2
Policy Directives and Memoranda p1
Policy Directives and Memoranda p2
Policies and Procedures
Pleas and Sentencing p1
Pleas and Sentencing p2
Pleas and Sentencing p3
Venue
Statute of Limitations
Attempt to Evade or Defeat Tax
Willful Failure to Collect and Pay Over
Failure to File
Fraudulent Withholding Exemption Certificate
Fraud and False Statements
Concealment with Intent to Defraud
Compromise and Closing Agreements
Fraudulent Returns and Statements
Omnibus Clause
Offenses With Respect to Collected Taxes
Aiding and Abetting
False, Fictitious or Fraudulent Claims
Conspiracy to Defraud the U.S.
False Statements
Tax Money Laundering
Specific Items
Net Worth p1
Net Worth p2
Expenditures
Bank Deposits
Tax Protestors p1
Tax Protestors p2
Obtaining Foreign Evidence
Restrictions on Obtaining Tax Info.

2.00 CRIMINAL TAX PRACTICE AND PROCEDURES
(UNITED STATES ATTORNEYS' MANUAL)

http://www.usdoj.gov/tax/readingroom/2001ctm/02ctax.htm

6-1.100 Department of Justice Policy and Responsibilities

The Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Tax Division, subject to the general supervision of the Attorney General and under the direction of the Deputy Attorney General, is responsible for conducting, handling, or supervising all matters arising under the internal revenue laws. 28 C.F.R. § 0.70.

The Department of Justice, including the United States Attorneys, is responsible for the conduct of all phases of federal tax litigation in the federal district and appellate courts and in state courts, including the prosecution of criminal tax cases, the collection of tax claims in bankruptcy, probate and insolvency proceedings, the defense of mortgage foreclosure suits involving tax liens, the initiation of collection suits against delinquent taxpayers, the defense of refund litigation, and the handling of administrative summonses cases. All federal tax litigation, except that in the Tax Court, in which the United States is a party must be handled by attorneys who are either employed by the Department of Justice or are authorized by it to represent the United States .

NOTE THAT TAX INFORMATION PROVIDED BY THE IRS TO THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE IS CONFIDENTIAL, MAY BE USED ONLY IN ACCORDANCE WITH 26 U.S.C. § 6103, AND MUST BE SAFEGUARDED TO PREVENT UNAUTHORIZED DISCLOSURE AND USE. SEE TAX INFORMATION SECURITY GUIDELINES FOR FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL AGENCIES ( IRS PUB . 1075 ( REV . 2-96)).

6-1.110 Criminal Tax Cases

The Tax Division generally has the responsibility of authorizing prosecution in criminal proceedings arising under the internal revenue laws. Once prosecution is authorized, United States Attorneys generally have the initial responsibility for the trial of criminal tax cases. However, the Tax Division has a staff of highly qualified trial attorneys who will render assistance in criminal tax cases upon request. The litigation assistance may be in the form of a senior Tax Division attorney who, either individually or with another Division attorney, may handle the grand jury investigative and/or trial aspects of a criminal tax case or even may assume responsibility for a period of time of a district's criminal tax docket. In other instances, the assistance may be provided by a Tax Division attorney acting as co-counsel with an Assistant United States Attorney in one or more cases or investigations. Tax Division attorneys also are available for consultation and assistance on crim inal tax policy and litigation matters, including foreign evidence gathering problems. Contact the appropriate Criminal Enforcement Section for assistance. See Tax Resource Manual at 9.

6-1.120 Civil Tax Cases

A.      Tax Division Responsibility. In civil tax litigation, the primary responsibility for handling most of the cases rests with attorneys from the Tax Division's Civil Trial Sections. See Tax Resource Manual at 21 for organization chart. The function of the United States Attorney in civil tax cases varies depending on the nature of the case. In tax cases in the United States District Court, the United States Attorney and his/her designated Assistant United States Attorney are counsel of record.

B.      Referrals from the Tax Division. On occasion, special circumstances may make it desirable for the government to be represented in a particular civil tax case by the United States Attorney, and not by an attorney from one of the Civil Trial Sections. The Chief of the appropriate Civil Trial Section or one of his/her Assistants is authorized to make the determination. An individual trial attorney has no authority to allow a United States Attorney to represent the government in any civil tax case. When, however, the United States Attorney is authorized to handle a civil tax case, a trial attorney will also be assigned to the case.

C.      Direct Referrals. Some types of civil tax cases are assigned directly to the United States Attorneys, including certain types of bankruptcy proceedings, actions under 28 U.S.C. § 2410 (other than interpleaders), and some types of summons litigation. In such cases, when United States Attorneys are unable because of personnel shortages or for other uncontrollable circumstances to staff civil tax cases for which their offices have litigation responsibilities, the Tax Division should be contacted and assistance requested. In the event that the Tax Division is unable to provide such assistance, it will undertake to aid the United States Attorney in preparing the paperwork necessary to have an IRS attorney appointed as a Special Assistant United States Attorney as an interim measure until the crisis is over.

D.      Special Assistant United States Attorneys. In a district in which an IRS District Counsel office is located, special arrangements can be made with the concurrence of the Tax Division, the United States Attorney, and the District Counsel to have one or more District Counsel attorneys appointed as Special Assistant United States Attorneys to handle certain bankruptcy matters.

6-1.130 Other Relevant Manuals for United States Attorneys

PRIMER ON IRS SUMMONS ENFORCEMENT

United States Attorneys have been furnished with the Tax Division's Criminal Tax Manual (1994), the Tax Division Judgment Collection Manual (1997), and the Tax Division's Primer on IRS Summons Enforcement (1996). The Criminal Tax Manual is a comprehensive procedural and substantive guide to the handling of criminal tax cases and includes jury instructions and other forms. It is available by a request directed to the Chief of the Criminal Appeals and Tax Enforcement Policy Section, and is also published as part of the USABook Library.

The Judgment Collection Manual is a procedural guide to collection of tax judgments and emphasizes procedures not available in attempting to collect non-tax judgments.

The Primer on IRS Summons Enforcement is a guide to the law relating to enforcement of IRS summonses.

These publications should be of assistance to United States Attorneys and their staffs in the conduct of tax litigation. Nevertheless, this Title of the USAM will prevail in any instance where any other manual is in derogation or conflict.

6-4.000
CRIMINAL TAX
CASE PROCEDURES

6-4.010 The Federal Tax Enforcement Program
6-4.011 Criminal Tax Manual and Other Tax Division Publications
6-4.110 IRS Administrative Investigations
6-4.120 Grand Jury Investigations -- Generally
6-4.121 IRS Requests to Initiate Grand Jury Investigations
6-4.122 United States Attorney Initiated Grand Jury Investigations
6-4.123 Joint United States Attorney- IRS Request to Expand Tax Grand Jury Investigations
6-4.124 Grand Jury -- Drug Task Force (OCDETF) Requests
6-4.125 IRS Transmittal of Reports and Exhibits from Grand Jury Investigations
6-4.126 Effect of DOJ Termination of Grand Jury Investigation and IRS Access to Grand Jury Material
6-4.130 Search Warrants
6-4.200 Tax Division Jurisdiction and Procedures
6-4.210 Filing False Tax Returns -- Mail Fraud Charges or Mail Fraud Predicates for RICO
6-4.211 Standards of Review
6-4.212 Categories of Matters Reviewed
6-4.213 Review of Direct Referrals
6-4.214 Conferences
6-4.215 Expedited Review
6-4.216 Priority Review
6-4.217 On-Site Review
6-4.218 Authorizations and Declinations
6-4.219 Assistance of Criminal Enforcement Section Investigation
6-4.240 United States Attorney's Responsibilities
6-4.241 Review of CRLs
6-4.242 Recommendation Following a Grand Jury Investigation
6-4.243 Review of Direct Referral Matters
6-4.244 Review of Noncomplex Matters
6-4.245 Request to Decline Prosecution
6-4.246 Request to Dismiss Prosecution
6-4.247 United States Attorney Protest of Declination
6-4.248 Status Reports
6-4.249 Return of Reports and Exhibits
6-4.270 Criminal Division Responsibility
6-4.310 Major Count Policy/Plea Agreements
6-4.311 Application of Major Count Policy in Sentencing Guideline Cases
6-4.320 Nolo Contendere Pleas
6-4.330 Alford Pleas
6-4.340 Sentencing
6-4.350 Costs of Prosecution
6-4.360 Compromise of Criminal Liability/Civil Settlement

6-4.010 The Federal Tax Enforcement Program

The Federal Tax Enforcement Program is designed to protect the public interest in preserving the integrity of this nation's self-assessment tax system through vigorous, uniform enforcement of the internal revenue laws. The government's primary objective in criminal tax prosecutions is to get the maximum deterrent value from the cases prosecuted. To achieve this objective, the government's tax enforcement activities must reflect uniform enforcement of the tax laws. Uniformity is particularly necessary because prosecution standards in the tax area potentially affect more individuals than in any other area of the law. Accordingly, the Federal Tax Enforcement Program is designed to have the broadest possible impact on compliance attitudes by emphasizing balanced enforcement, with respect to not only the types of violations prosecuted but also the geographic location and economic and vocational status of the violators. In view of the importance of the uniform prosecution program, t he Tax Division has been delegated the responsibility of authorizing or declining investigation and prosecution in criminal tax matters. See 28 C.F.R. 0.70; USAM 6-4.200. See also the Criminal Enforcement Section's Organizational Chart in the Tax Resource Manual at 9.

6-4.011 Criminal Tax Manual and Other Tax Division Publications

The Tax Division's Criminal Tax Manual (1994 ed.) contains comprehensive treatments of statutes, methods of proof, various specialized areas and policies and procedures involved in criminal tax prosecutions; as well as indictment/information forms; and jury instructions,. All prosecutors involved in federal criminal tax cases should cross-reference this work during their handling of criminal tax cases. The Tax Division compiles other resources useful in criminal tax prosecutions, such as the Tax Division's "Criminal Tax Protest Case Issue List," a circuit-by-circuit breakdown of recurring issues in tax protester cases. Both the Criminal Tax Manual and the "Criminal Tax Protest Case Issue List" are available through USANet. The Criminal Tax Manual is also published as part of the USABook library.

6-4.110 IRS Administrative Investigations

The IRS ' Criminal Investigation Division ( CID ) is responsible for investigating violations of the criminal provisions of the internal revenue laws, including cases falling within the General Enforcement Plea Program (see the Tax Resource Manual at 7) and related violations of the criminal provisions of 18 U.S.C. CID special agents are responsible for conducting administrative investigations (see the Tax Resource Manual at 1 and 2) of alleged criminal violations arising under the internal revenue laws.

Upon concluding an administrative investigation, a special agent recommending prosecution must prepare a special agent's report (SAR) that details the investigation and the agent's recommendations. After review within CID , the SAR, together with the exhibits, is reviewed by District Counsel. See the Tax Resource Manual at 3. When prosecution is deemed warranted, District Counsel prepares a criminal reference letter ( CRL ) and refers the matter (see the Tax Resource Manual at 4) either to the Tax Division or, in those circumstances when direct referral of certain classes of cases is authorized, to the United States Attorney. See USAM 6-4.243. The CRL discusses the nature of the crime(s) for which prosecution is recommended, the evidence relied upon to prove it, technical aspects and anticipated difficulties of prosecution, and the prosecution recommendations themselv es. See 26 U.S.C. Sec. 6103(h). A referral of the matter to the Department of Justice allows the Internal Revenue Service to share a return or return information with the Department of Justice (see 26 U.S.C. Sec. 6103(h)), but places some limits on further IRS activity while the referral remains in effect. See Tax Resource Manual at 5 and 6. Where matters are referred to the Tax Division, a copy of the CRL will be forwarded simultaneously to the appropriate United States Attorney. Likewise, where matters are directly referred to the United States Attorney, a copy of the CRL will be forwarded simultaneously to the Tax Division.

6-4.120 Grand Jury Investigations -- Generally

Although a federal grand jury is empowered to investigate both tax and nontax violations of