The Fourth Amendment Protection Against Unreasonable Search and Seizure in an IRS Criminal Tax Evasion or CriminalTax Fraud Case
By Anthony Diosdi An individual who is the subject of a criminal tax fraud case has the same rights as any other criminal defendant against unreasonable search and seizure in a criminal tax fraud case. The Fourth Amendment constitutional right against unreasonable searches and seizure typically comes into play in tax evasion cases principally in warrantless searches of a taxpayer’s books and records. The usual Fourth Amendment question arises as follows: An individual consents to the examination of his books and records believing the examination concerns only civil tax liability; he believes it is only a civil audit because the special agent has not advised him of the function of a special agent or of his constitutional rights. The taxpayer therefore contends 1) that a search of his “papers” has…