Polselli v. IRS HTML PDF
Decided: Syllabus | Majority Opinion | Concurrence
Syllabus
POLSELLI v. IRS
23 F. 4th 616, affirmed.
NOTE:âWhere it is feasible, a syllabus (headnote) will be released, as is being done in connection with this case, at the time the opinion is issued. The syllabus constitutes no part of the opinion of the Court but has been prepared by the Reporter of Decisions for the convenience of the reader. See United States v. Detroit Timber & Lumber Co., 200 U. S. 321, 337.
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
Syllabus
POLSELLI et al. v. INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE
certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the sixth circuit
The Internal Revenue Service has the power to issue summonses to pursue unpaid federal taxes and the people who owe them. When the IRS issues a summons, it must generally provide notice to any person identified in the summons, §7609(a)(1). Anyone entitled to such notice may then bring a motion to quash the summons, §7609(b)(2)(A). But when the IRS issues a summons âin aid of the collection of . . . an assessment made . . . against the person with respect to whose liability the summons is issued,â no notice is required, §7609(c)(2)(D)(i).
ââIn this case, the IRS entered official assessments against Remo Polselli for more than $2 million in unpaid taxes and penalties. Revenue Officer Michael Bryant issued summonses to three banks seeking financial records of several third parties, including petitioners, who then moved to quash the summonses. The District Court concluded that, under §7609(c)(2)(D)(i), no notice was required and that petitioners therefore could not bring a motion to quash. The Sixth Circuit affirmed, finding that the summonses fell squarely within the exception in §7609(c)(2)(D)(i) to the general notice requirement.
Held: The Court rejects petitionersâ argument that the exception to the notice requirement in §7609(c)(2)(D)(i) applies only if the delinquent taxpayer has a legal interest in the accounts or records summoned by the IRS. Pp. 5â12.
â(a) The statute sets forth three conditions to exempt the IRS from providing notice in circumstances like these. First, a summons must be âissued in aid of . . . collection,â §7609(c)(2)(D). Second, it must aid the collection of âan assessment made or judgment rendered,â §7609(c)(2)(D)(i). Third, a summons must aid the collection of assessments or judgments âagainst the person with respect to whose liability  the summons is issued,â §7609(c)(2)(D)(i). The statute does not mention legal interest, much less require that a taxpayer maintain such an interest for the exception to apply. Pp. 5â7.
â(b)Â Petitionersâ arguments in support of their proposed legal interest test do not convince the Court to abandon an ordinary reading of the notice exception. Petitioners first contend the phrase âin aid of the collectionâ refers only to inquiries that âdirectly advanceâ the IRSâs collection efforts, which a summons will not accomplish unless it is targeted at an account containing assets that the IRS can collect to satisfy the taxpayerâs liability. This argument ignores the typical meaning of âin aid of.â To âaidâ means â[t]o helpâ or âassist.â A summons that may not itself reveal taxpayer assets that can be collected may nonetheless help the IRS find such assets.
âPetitioners next argue that if §7609(c)(2)(D)(i) is read to exempt from notice every summons that helps the IRS collect an âassessmentâ against a delinquent taxpayer, there would be no work left for the second exception to notice, found in §7609(c)(2)(D)(ii), to do. Clause (ii) exempts from notice any summons âissued in aid of the collection of . . . the liability at law or in equity of any transferee or fiduciary of any person referred to in clause (i).â The two clauses apply in different circumstances: clause (i) applies upon an assessment, while clause (ii) applies upon a finding of liability. In addition, clause (i) concerns delinquent taxpayers, while clause (ii) concerns transferees or fiduciaries. As a result, clause (ii) permits the IRS to issue unnoticed summonses to aid its collection from transferees or fiduciaries before it makes an official assessment of liability. Pp. 7â11.
â(c) The Court does not dismiss any apprehension about the scope of the IRSâs power to issue summonses and does not define the precise contours of the phrase âin aid of the collection.â The briefing by the parties and the question presented focus only on whether §7609(c)(2)(D)(i) requires that a taxpayer maintain a legal interest in records summoned by the IRS. The answer is no.
23 F. 4th 616, affirmed.
âRoberts, C. J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court. Jackson, J., filed a concurring opinion, in which Gorsuch, J., joined.
Notes
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Opinion
NOTICE:âThis opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in the United States Reports.âReaders are requested to notify the Reporter of Decisions, Supreme Court of the United States, Washington, D. C. 20543, pio@supremecourt.gov, of any typographical or other formal errors.
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
_________________
No. 21â1599
_________________
HANNA KARCHO POLSELLI, et al., PETITIONERS v. INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE
on writ of certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the sixth circuit
âChief Justice Roberts delivered the opinion of the Court.
âFor as long as Americans have had to pay taxes, at least some have tried to avoid them. And for as long as Americans have avoided taxes, the Internal Revenue Service and its predecessors have tried to collect them. As an old joke goes: âI believe we should all pay taxes with a smile. I tried but they wanted cash.â
âCongress has given the IRS considerable power to go after unpaid taxes. One tool at the Serviceâs disposal is the authority to summon people with information concerning a delinquent taxpayer. But to safeguard privacy, the IRS is generally required to provide notice to anyone named in a summons, who can then sue to quash it. Todayâs case concerns an exception to that general rule.
I
âTo pursue unpaid taxes and the people who owe them, âCongress has granted the Service broad latitude to issue summonses.â United States v. Clarke, 573 U. S. 248, 250 (2014). Among other things, the IRS may issue a summons  to âdetermin[e] the liabilityâ of a taxpayer or âany transferee or fiduciaryâ for unpaid taxes. 26 U. S. C. §7602(a). The IRS also may serve a summons to âcollec[t] any such liability.â Ibid. These summonses can extend to third parties beyond the taxpayer under investigation. Tiffany Fine Arts, Inc. v. United States, 469 U. S. 310, 315â316 (1985). Accordingly, the IRS may request the production of âbooks, papers, records, or other dataâ from âany personâ who possesses information concerning a delinquent taxpayer. §7602(a)(2).
âGiven the breadth of this power, Congress has imposed certain safeguards. The IRS must generally give ânotice of the summonsâ to âany person . . . identified in the summons.â §7609(a)(1). Anyone entitled to notice can bring a motion to quash the summons. §7609(b)(2)(A). And the Internal Revenue Code provides district courts with âjurisdiction to hear and determine any proceedingâ concerning a motion to quash, §7609(h)(1), thereby waiving the sovereign immunity of the United States, see FAA v. Cooper, 566 U. S. 284, 290 (2012).
âThere are, however, exceptions to the notice requirement. As relevant, the IRS need not provide notice to a person âwho is identified in the summons,â §7609(a)(1), if the summons is:
ââissued in aid of the collection ofâ
ââ(i) an assessment made or judgment rendered against the person with respect to whose liability the summons is issued; or
ââ(ii) the liability at law or in equity of any transferee or fiduciary of any person referred to in clause (i).â §7609(c)(2)(D)
âIn other words, the IRS may issue summonses both to determine whether a taxpayer owes money and later to collect any outstanding liability. When the IRS conducts an investigation for the purpose of âdetermining the liabilityâ of a  taxpayer, §7602(a), it must provide notice, §7609(a)(1). But once the Service has reached the stage of âcollecting any such liability,â §7602(a)âwhich is a distinct activityânotice may not be required, §7609(c)(2)(D).
II
âFor multiple years between 2005 and 2017, Remo Polselli underpaid his federal taxes. App. to Pet. for Cert. 65aâ66a. After investigating, the IRS determined that Mr. Polselli was liable for the unpaid amounts and other penalties, and entered official assessments against him totaling more than $2 million. Id., at 66a. Revenue Officer Michael Bryant then set out to collect the money, and he developed a few leads in his search for assets that Mr. Polselli may have been concealing. Bryant focused on bank accounts belonging to Mr. Polselliâs wife, petitioner Hanna Karcho Polselli. Ibid. Bryant also knew that Mr. Polselli had paid nearly $300,000 toward part of his outstanding tax liability from an account owned by Dolce Hotel Management, LLC, and surmised that Mr. Polselli might have control over funds belonging to that company. Id., at 67a. To further his investigation, Bryant issued a summons under §7602 to the law firm Abraham & Rose, PLC, where Mr. Polselli had long been a client. Ibid. But the firm produced no records in response, stating that it âdid not retain any of the documents requested.â Ibid.
âBryant then issued several additional summonses seeking records concerning Mr. Polselli. Bryant issued one summons to Wells Fargo, requesting the financial records of both Mrs. Polselli and Dolce Hotel Management. Id., at 70aâ71a. He also issued summonses to JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America, seeking among other things â[c]opies of all bank statementsâ relating to Mr. Polselli and petitioners Jerry R. Abraham, P. C., and Abraham & Rose, PLC. Id., at 78aâ79a, 85aâ86a. Bryant did not provide notice to any of the third parties named in the three summonses.  But the banks did, and Mrs. Polselli, Jerry R. Abraham, and Abraham & Rose filed motions to quash in Federal District Court.
âThe District Court dismissed the case for lack of subject-matter jurisdiction, reasoning that the IRS did not need to provide notice. Polselli v. United States, 2020 WL 12688176, *4 (ED Mich., Nov. 16, 2020). The District Court credited Bryantâs assertions that âthe purpose of his investigation [was] to locate assets to satisfy Mr. Polselliâs existing assessed federal tax liability and that the IRS issued the summonses in question to aid in the collection of these assessed liabilities.â Ibid. Because the Code excluded petitioners from the required notice, there was no waiver of sovereign immunity, and the District Court therefore lacked jurisdiction to entertain the motions to quash. Id., at *5.
âThe Sixth Circuit affirmed in a divided opinion, reasoning that no notice was required because âthe summonses  at issue fall squarely within the exception listed in §7609(c)(2)(D)(i).â Polselli v. Department of TreasuryâIRS, 23 F. 4th 616, 623 (2022). Before the Sixth Circuit, petitioners had argued in favor of a ruleâpreviously adopted by the Ninth Circuitârequiring that a taxpayer have âsome legal interest or title in the object of the summonsâ for the notice exception to apply. Ip v. United States, 205 F. 3d 1168, 1175 (2000). To decide whether a taxpayer maintains a sufficient legal interest âin the object of the summons,â the Ninth Circuit considers âwhether there was an employment, agency, or ownership relationship between the taxpayer and third party.â Viewtech, Inc. v. United States, 653 F. 3d 1102, 1106 (2011). But the Sixth Circuit below rejected the Ninth Circuitâs legal interest test, concluding that it was contrary to the plain language of §7609(c)(2)(D)(i). 23 F. 4th, at 625. The panel below instead held that âas long as the third-party summons is issued to aid in the collection of any assessed tax liability the notice exception applies.â Id., at 624 (internal quotation  marks omitted). In so concluding, the Sixth Circuit aligned itself with both the Seventh and Tenth Circuits. See Davidson v. United States, 149 F. 3d 1190 (CA10 1998) (Table); Barmes v. United States, 199 F. 3d 386 (CA7 1999) (per curiam).
âJudge Kethledge dissented. He acknowledged that an ordinary reading of the statute exempted the summonses from notice but thought the statutory context compelled a narrower construction. As an initial matter, Judge Kethledge expressed concern that the panelâs reading of the notice exception risked âa significant intrusion upon the privacy of . . . account holders.â 23 F. 4th, at 631. He argued that an ordinary reading of the first exception to notice would render the second exceptionâcodified in §7609(c)(2)(D)(ii)ââsuperfluous.â Ibid. To avoid that, Judge Kethledge would have narrowed the first exception by adopting the legal interest test from the Ninth Circuit. We granted certiorari to resolve the division among the Circuits. 598 U. S. ___ (2022).
III
âThe question presented is whether the exception to the notice requirement in §7609(c)(2)(D)(i) applies only where a delinquent taxpayer has a legal interest in accounts or records summoned by the IRS under §7602(a). A straightforward reading of the statutory text supplies a ready answer: The notice exception does not contain such a limitation.
A
âThe statute sets forth three conditions to exempt the IRS from providing notice in circumstances like these. First, a summons must be âissued in aid of . . . collection.â §7609(c)(2)(D). Second, it must aid the collection of âan assessment made or judgment rendered.â §7609(c)(2)(D)(i). By âassessment,â the Code ârefers to the official recording of a taxpayerâs liability.â Direct Marketing Assn. v. Brohl,  575 U. S. 1, 9 (2015); see also Hibbs v. Winn, 542 U. S. 88, 100 (2004). Section 7609(c)(2)(D)(i) does not excuse notice, therefore, until the IRS makes an official assessment or a judgment has been rendered with respect to a taxpayerâs liability. Third, a summons must aid the collection of assessments or judgments âagainst the person with respect to whose liability the summons is issued.â §7609(c)(2)(D)(i). This requirement links the subject of the assessment or judgment with the subject of the collection effortâthey must concern the same delinquent taxpayer. None of the three components for excusing notice in §7609(c)(2)(D)(i) mentions a taxpayerâs legal interest in records sought by the IRS, much less requires that a taxpayer maintain such an interest for the exception to apply.
âHad Congress wanted to include a legal interest requirement, it certainly knew how to do so. The very next provisionâalso enacted as part of the Tax Reform Act of 1976ârequires the IRS to âestablish the rates and conditionsâ for reimbursing costs âincurred in searching for, reproducing, or transportingâ information sought by a summons. §7610(a)(2); see 90 Stat. 1702. But the IRS may not provide reimbursement if âthe person with respect to whose liability the summons is issued has a proprietary interest inâ the records âto be produced.â §7610(b)(1). We assume that Congress âacts intentionally and purposelyâ when it âincludes particular language in one section of a statute but omits it in another section of the same Act.â Sebelius v. Cloer, 569 U. S. 369, 378 (2013) (internal quotation marks omitted). The fact that the exception to the reimbursement provision expressly turns on a taxpayerâs âproprietary interestâ in records summoned by the IRS strongly suggests that Congress deliberately omitted a similar requirement with respect to the notice exception in §7609(c)(2)(D)(i). And here the provision in question is not just in the âsame Actââit is in the adjacent section, having been enacted in the same Public Law.
 B
âPetitioners advance two primary arguments in support of their proposed legal interest test, neither of which convinces us to abandon an ordinary reading of the notice exception.
âFirst, petitioners adopt a narrow definition of âin aid of the collection.â In their view, the phrase refers only to inquiries that âdirectly advanceâ the IRSâs collection efforts. Brief for Petitioners 21. A summons will not directly advance those efforts, they contend, unless it is targeted at an account containing assets that the IRS can collect to satisfy the taxpayerâs liability. And, petitioners say, the only way that a summons issued to a third party will produce collectible assets is if the delinquent taxpayer has a legal interest in the targeted account.
âThis argument does not give a fair reading to the phrase âin aid of the collection.â According to petitioners, the phrase requires that a summons produce collectible assets. But to âaidâ means â[t]o helpâ or âassist.â American Heritage Dictionary 26 (1969). Petitioners agree. See Brief for Petitioners 21 (âaidâ means to âsupport,â âhelp,â or âassistâ). Even if a summons may not itself reveal taxpayer assets that can be collected, it may nonetheless help the IRS find such assets.
âConsider this case. The IRSâs investigation âsuggest[ed] that Mr. Polselli often uses other entities to shield assets from the Internal Revenue Service.â App. to Pet. for Cert. 68a. Bryant suspected, for instance, that Mr. Polselli was using Dolce Hotel Management as an alter ego, and also that he might have access to and use of Mrs. Polselliâs bank accounts. Based on those leads, Bryant initially requested that Abraham & Rose produce âcancelled checks, wire transfer/credit documents, and all other instruments used by Mr. Polselli to pay the firm.â Id., at 67a. Whether Mr. Polselli maintains a âlegal interestâ in those recordsâa con founding question, see Viewtech, 653 F. 3d, at 1106âis neither here nor there. The IRS could not, of course, use records of canceled checks and the like to satisfy Mr. Polselliâs tax deficiency. But if those records showed that money from Dolce Hotel Management was used to pay Mr. Polselliâs account at Abraham & Rose, or to pay others through Abraham & Rose, that could aid in collecting funds from Dolce Hotel Management to help pay Mr. Polselliâs debt to the IRS. Or the Service could use those records to try to identify other alter egosâbesides Dolce Hotel Managementâwhere Mr. Polselli might have hidden assets.
âBy the same token, the summonses Bryant issued to the three banks sought records to âidentify . . . entities whose funds Mr. Polselli has control over without formal ownershipâ and âbank accounts associated with such entities.â App. to Pet. for Cert. 68a. As with the request Bryant issued to Abraham & Rose, even if the three bank summonses did not reveal bank accounts in which Mr. Polselli has a legal interest, they could lead to assets parked elsewhere that the IRS could collect to satisfy his $2 million liability.
âIRS investigations are much like any other: A detective might order forensic testing or speak to witnesses to help identify a culprit, even if those activities are unlikelyâin and of themselvesâto solve the crime. Similarly, documents in the accounts belonging to Mrs. Polselli or Dolce Hotel Management may be a step in a paper trail leading to assets owned by Mr. Polselli. Everyday tasks illustrate the same point: A recipe might help a chef shop for needed groceries, even though more steps are required before dinner will be ready. By conflating activities that help advance a goal with activities sure to accomplish it, petitioners ignore the typical meaning of âin aid of.â
âPetitioners next argue that the exception provided in clause (i) must be read narrowly so as to avoid making entirely superfluous the exception found in clause (ii). Clause (i) excuses notice when the IRS issues a summons âin aid of  the collection of . . . an assessment made or judgment rendered againstâ the delinquent taxpayer. §7609(c)(2)(D)(i). Clause (ii) exempts from notice any summons âissued in aid of the collection of . . . the liability at law or in equity of any transferee or fiduciary of any person referred to in clause (i).â §7609(c)(2)(D)(ii). We ordinarily aim to âgiv[e] effect to every clause and word of a statute.â Microsoft Corp. v. i4i L. P., 564 U. S. 91, 106 (2011) (internal quotation marks omitted). If clause (i) already exempts from notice every summons that helps the IRS collect an âassessmentâ against a delinquent taxpayer, petitioners argue, there would be no work left for clause (ii) to do. Adding a âlegal interestâ requirement, on the other hand, would cabin the scope of clause (i), leaving some purpose for clause (ii).
âBut this argument overlooks two differences between clause (i) and clause (ii). First, clause (i) is applicable upon an assessment, while clause (ii) is applicable upon a finding of liability. Under the Code, a taxpayerâs âliabilityâ for unpaid taxes arises before the IRS makes an official âassessmentâ of what the delinquent taxpayer owes. See §6203 (âThe assessment shall be made by recording the liability of the taxpayer . . . .â); see also United States v. Galletti, 541 U. S. 114, 122 (2004) (assessment refers to âthe calculation or recording of a tax liabilityâ). Although an assessment may âtrigge[r] levy and collection efforts,â Hibbs, 542 U. S., at 101, the Code does not require in all cases that the IRS make a formal assessment before attempting to collect an outstanding tax liability. See §§6501(c)(1)â(3) (authorizing the IRS to bring âa proceeding in court for collection of [a] tax . . . without assessmentâ in situations involving false returns, willful attempts to evade taxes, and failures to file a return).
âSecond, petitionersâ argument overlooks that clause (i) and clause (ii) are addressed to different entities. Clause (i) concerns assessments or judgments against a taxpayerââthe person with respect to whose liability the summons is  issued.â §7609(c)(2)(D)(i). Clause (ii), in contrast, concerns the liability of a âtransferee or fiduciary.â §7609(c)(2)(D)(ii). That the notice exception distinguishes between taxpayers and their fiduciaries or transferees should come as no surprise. The Code elsewhere separately empowers the IRS to collect outstanding tax liabilities from taxpayers, on the one hand, and from transferees or fiduciaries, on the other. See §6901. The Code also differentiates between taxpayers and their fiduciaries or transferees in empowering the IRS to issue summonses in the first place. See §7602(a).
âThese distinctionsâbetween liability and assessment or judgment, and between taxpayers and their transferees or fiduciariesâare not just academic. They show that the second notice exception found in clause (ii) applies in situations where clause (i) may not. To dispense with notice, clause (i) requires that there be âan assessment made or judgment rendered against the person with respect to whose liability the summons is issued.â §7609(c)(2)(D)(i). By contrast, clause (ii) does not impose the same conditions. It instead authorizes the IRS to issue a summons in aid of collecting a âliability at law or in equity,â and refers specifically to the liability of any âtransferee or fiduciaryâ of the delinquent taxpayer. §7609(c)(2)(D)(ii). As a result, clause (ii) permits the IRS to issue unnoticed summonses to aid its collection from transferees or fiduciaries before it makes an âofficial recording of a taxpayerâs liability.â Direct Marketing Assn., 575 U. S., at 9. âThat may not be very heavy work for the phrase to perform, but a job is a job, and enough to bar the rule against redundancy from disqualifying an otherwise sensible reading.â Gutierrez v. Ada, 528 U. S. 250, 258 (2000); see also Nielson v. Preap, 586 U. S. ___, ___ (2019) (slip op., at 21) (a clause that âstill has work to doâ is not superfluous).
âClause (ii) addresses an additional potential problem as well. Delinquent taxpayers sometimes declare bankruptcy  or otherwise discharge debt. When they do so, the Government may not be able to collect âan assessment made or judgment rendered against theâ taxpayer. §7609(c)(2)(D)(i). In those situations, clause (i) may not apply, for a summons cannot be âissued in aid of â an impossible collection effort. §7609(c)(2)(D). But clause (ii) may nevertheless permit the IRS to issue unnoticed summonses to collect the âliabilityâ of the taxpayerâs transferee or fiduciary. §7609(c)(2)(D)(ii).
IV
âPetitioners also emphasize the privacy concerns that led Congress to enact the notice requirement in the first place. They highlight that âCongress enacted §7609 in response to two decisions in which we gave a broad construction to the IRSâs general summons power.â Tiffany Fine Arts, 469 U. S., at 314. In Donaldson v. United States, 400 U. S. 517 (1971), we considered whether the employee of a company to which the IRS had issued a summons could intervene to prevent his employerâs compliance with the Serviceâs request. Id., at 527. We concluded that the employee had no right to do so. Id., at 530. And in United States v. Bisceglia, 420 U. S. 141 (1975), we approved an IRS summons issued to a bank âfor the purpose of identifying an unnamed individual who had deposited a large amount of money in severely deteriorated bills,â concluding that the IRS had not abused its authority. Tiffany Fine Arts, 469 U. S., at 315 (characterizing Bisceglia).
âDonaldson and Bisceglia help explain why Congress enacted §7609, which establishes a baseline rule requiring the IRS to provide notice and which authorizes anyone entitled to notice to move to quash a summons. §7609(a). But neither case obliges us to read the notice exception in §7609(c)(2)(D)(i) more narrowly than its terms provide. We think the history highlighted by petitioners supports a contrary conclusion. That Congress proved acutely aware of our prior decisions supports a plain reading not only of the  general notice requirement, but also of the specific exception the statute provides.
âWe do not dismiss any apprehension about the scope of the IRSâs authority to issue summonses. As we have said, âthe authority vested in tax collectors may be abused, as all power is subject to abuse.â Bisceglia, 420 U. S., at 146. Tax investigations often involve the pursuit of sensitive records. In this case, for instance, the IRS sought information from law firms concerning client accounts. And even the Government concedes that the phrase âin aid of the collectionâ is not âlimitless.â Tr. of Oral Arg. 33. The Government proposes a test turning on reasonableness: So long as a summons is âreasonably calculated to assisting in collection,â it can fairly be characterized as being issued âin aid of â that collection. Id., at 26; see also id., at 36 (â[T]he third party should have some financial ties or ha[ve] engaged in financial transactions with the delinquent taxpayer.â).
âThis is not, however, the case to try to define the precise bounds of the phrase âin aid of the collection.â The parties did not argue, and the panel below did not decide, the contours of that phrase. See Illinois v. Gates, 462 U. S. 213, 222â223 (1983). In addition, both the briefing by the parties and the question presented focus only on whether the exception provided in §7609(c)(2)(D)(i) requires that a taxpayer maintain a legal interest in records summoned by the IRS. For the reasons we have given, the answer is no.
âThe judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit is affirmed.
It is so ordered.
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Concurrence
SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
_________________
No. 21â1599
_________________
HANNA KARCHO POLSELLI, et al., PETITIONERS v. INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE
on writ of certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the sixth circuit
âJustice Jackson, with whom Justice Gorsuch joins, concurring.
âThe Court holds today that there is no âlegal interestâ limitation on the ability of the Internal Revenue Service to summon records without notice under 26 U. S. C. §7609(c)(2)(D)(i). I agree. I write to emphasize two points I believe are critical to understanding that, despite our rejection of this particular limit, the summoning power of the IRS under that provision is circumscribed nonetheless.
âFirst, while the need for efficient tax administration is certainly important and Congress has given the agency lots of attendant authority, the default rule when the IRS seeks information from third-party recordkeepers under this statute is notice. The IRS can summon âany books, papers, records, or other dataâ that âmay be relevant or material toâ determining a taxpayerâs liability or collecting unpaid tax. §§7602(a)(1)â(2). And it can issue such summonses to âany . . . person the [IRS] may deem proper.â §7602(a)(2) (emphasis added). But, as a general matter, when the IRS issues a summons pursuant to this authority, the agency must provide notice to âany person . . . identified in the summonsâ and to whom âany portion of [the requested] recordsâ relate. §7609(a)(1) (imposing notice requirement as the âgeneralâ rule).
 âNotice is not a mere formality. In the context of tax administration, it serves an important function. Providing notice ensures that, when the IRS comes calling, the implicated interests are balanced. On one hand, the notice requirement permits the IRS to summon recordkeepers for the information it needs, without imposing overly burdensome procedural hurdles or inviting excessive delay. See, e.g., §7609(a)(2) (allowing the IRS to serve notice by mail); §7609(b)(2) (setting time limitations on filing a motion to quash). On the other hand, noticeâand the concomitant right to judicial reviewâempowers persons whose information is at stake to enlist assistance from the courts, as needed, to prevent the agency from overreaching. §7609(b); see also Tiffany Fine Arts, Inc. v. United States, 469 U. S. 310, 320â321 (1985).
âTo be sure, Congress has also recognized that there might be situations, particularly in the collection context, where providing notice could frustrate the IRSâs ability to effectively administer the tax laws. For instance, upon receiving notice that the IRS has served a summons, interested persons might move or hide collectable assets, making the agencyâs collection efforts substantially harder.
âThat is where the exception at §7609(c)(2)(D)(i) comes in. In such circumstances, §7609(c)(2)(D)(i) prevents notice from tipping the balance entirely in favor of the delinquent taxpayer, at the expense of the IRS. But, depending on whose information the summons seeks (for example, an innocent third partyâs), or the nature of the requested records, it might not be reasonable to conclude that providing notice would frustrate the IRSâs tax-collection goal. And when that is the case, it might unjustifiably tip the scales in the other direction (i.e., entirely in the IRSâs favor) to allow the IRS to proceed without notice just because its delinquency resolution process has entered the collection phase.
âIn other words, the statuteâs balancing of interests indicates that Congress did not give the IRS a blank check, so  to speak, to do with as it will in the collection arena. Thus, in my view, courts must not interpret §7609(c)(2)(D)(i) as if that agency has been gifted with boundless authority. Treating the IRSâs power to issue unnoticed summonses as effectively unlimited permits the exception to devour the rule, upsetting the statuteâs calibration.
âSecond, and similarly, it is hard for me to believe that, in the context of a default-notice system, Congress would intentionally insert an exception that could so dramatically upend its objectives. Read too broadly, §7609(c)(2)(D)(i) would presumably permit the IRS to summon anyoneâs records without notice, no matter how broad the summons is or how potentially intrusive that records request might be, so long as the agency thinks doing so would provide a clue to the location of a delinquent taxpayerâs assets.
âImagine, for example, a delinquent taxpayer who routinely visits his local mom-and-pop dry cleaning business. Imagine also that the IRS suspects this delinquent taxpayer sometimes uses credit cards with different names. Under a broad reading of §7609(c)(2)(D)(i), I suppose the IRS could issue a summons to the dry cleanerâs bank without notice to the dry cleaner, seeking years of the dry cleanerâs financial records. The agency might believe that having the entirety of that businessâs financial information would aid its tax-collection effortsâeven though the taxpayer has no known financial interest in that business, or any special relationship with the businessâs ownersâbecause knowing what methods of payment (or aliases) the taxpayer regularly uses could help the agency track down the taxpayerâs assets. And it might intend to sift through the requested haystack of the businessâs bank records in order to find the needle of the taxpayerâs transaction information.
âFor their part, the dry cleanerâs owners would probably look askance at having all of their financial records requisitioned and reviewed in this manner. But, without notice, Â they cannot object to the summonsâs scope or work with the IRS (and the court) to provide the records that most likely involve the delinquent taxpayer or his aliases. The owners would have to rely on the recipient of the summons (the bank) to articulate their privacy concerns and negotiate with the agency. Yet there is no guarantee under the statute that the bank will do that, and even if it does, how is the bank supposed to identify which credit cards may have been used by the delinquent taxpayer over a multiyear period?
âThis situation seems to me to be the kind of circumstance in which Congress would not have intended to prevent the dry cleaning business from attempting to protect its interests. And, in my view, reading §7609 to require noticeâand the potential for judicial oversightâin relation to such attenuated tax-collection activities is entirely consistent with the statutory scheme. Conversely, allowing the agency to sidestep oversight of its broad summons power by not providing notice in these kinds of situations undermines the important aims of the default-notice system.
âThe bottom line is this: As I read the statute, the IRS is not necessarily exempt from notice obligations any time a tax-delinquency matter enters the collection phase. Rather, the exception in §7609(c)(2)(D)(i) merely reflects Congressâs determination that, in some situations, requiring the agency to provide notice in connection with its tax-collection efforts would undermine the balance that the statute strikes with its default-notice requirement. Consequently, I believe that both courts and the IRS itself must be ever vigilant when determining when notice is not required. Doing so properly involves a careful fact-based inquiry that might well vary from case to case, depending on the scope and nature of the information the IRS seeks.