The Fourth Amendment Protection Against Unreasonable Search and Seizure in an IRS Criminal Tax Evasion or CriminalTax Fraud Case

The Fourth Amendment Protection Against Unreasonable Search and Seizure in an IRS Criminal Tax Evasion or CriminalTax Fraud Case

Tax Law
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…
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