United States v. Fond Du Lac Reservation Business Committee

906 F. Supp. 523, 76 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 6568, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17596, 1995 WL 692695
CourtDistrict Court, D. Minnesota
DecidedNovember 1, 1995
DocketMisc. No. 5-94-7
StatusPublished

This text of 906 F. Supp. 523 (United States v. Fond Du Lac Reservation Business Committee) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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United States v. Fond Du Lac Reservation Business Committee, 906 F. Supp. 523, 76 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 6568, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17596, 1995 WL 692695 (mnd 1995).

Opinion

ORDER

ROSENBAUM, District Judge.

This matter is before the Court on defendant’s objection to the September 11, 1995, Report and Recommendation issued by the Honorable Raymond L. Erickson, United States Magistrate Judge. The Magistrate considered a petition to enforce an Internal Revenue Service Summons, pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 7603. The defendant moved to dismiss this administrative summons.

After a hearing and consideration of supplemental briefs, the Magistrate recommended that defendant’s motion to dismiss be denied, and that the District Court issue an Order compelling compliance with the administrative summons, pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 7604(b). Defendant timely filed its objection to the Report, pursuant to Local Rule 72.1(c)(2).

Based upon a de novo review of the record herein, the Court adopts the Magistrate’s Report and Recommendation, save and except the first three sentences on page 528-529 and footnote 4, which the Court declines to adopt. Accordingly, IT IS ORDERED that:

1. The September 11, 1995, Report is adopted as modified. .

2. Defendant’s motion to dismiss is denied.

3. Defendant is directed to comply with the administrative summons.

REPORT AND RECOMMENDATION

ERICKSON, United States Magistrate Judge.

At Duluth, in the District of Minnesota, this 11th day of September, 1995.

I. Introduction

This matter came before the undersigned United States Magistrate Judge pursuant to a general assignment, made in accordance with the provisions of Title 28 U.S.C. § 636(b)(1)(A) and (B), upon the Petition of the Government (hereinafter “IRS”) to Enforce Internal Revenue Service Summons.1

A Hearing on the Petition was conducted on March 9, 1995, at which time the IRS appeared by John A. Marrella, Trial Attorney with the Tax Division of the United States Department of Justice, and the Respondent appeared by Henry M. Buffalo and Dennis J. Peterson, Esqs. Following the conduct of the Hearing, each of the parties filed supplemental briefing.

For reasons which follow, we recommend that the IRS’s Petition be granted.

II. Factual and Procedural History

On July 29, 1992, Revenue Agent William Reinke (“Reinke”), who is assigned to the Examination Division of the Office of the District Director of the IRS, in St. Paul, Minnesota, hand delivered an Administrative Summons, pursuant to Title 26 U.S.C. § 7603, upon the Respondent through its attorney, Dennis J. Peterson (“Peterson”). In conjunction with Revenue Agent Mark T. Fischer (“Fischer”), who is assigned to the [526]*526Examination Division of the Office of the District Director in Duluth, Minnesota, Reinke was conducting an investigation into the tax liabilities of the Respondent, including the Respondent’s liabilities, if any, for wagering excise taxes during the period from January 1, 1986, through and including April 30, 1992.

The Administrative Summons directed Peterson to appear before Fischer at 316 N. Robert Street, Room 300, Federal Courts Building, in St. Paul, Minnesota, on August 10, 1992, to testify and to produce for examination documents and records, all of which were fully described in an attachment to the Summons, and all of which generally relate to certain gaming activities — in the nature of “pull tabs” and “tip boards” — which are conducted by the Respondent on the Fond du Lac Reservation, in accordance with the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act of 1988, Title 25 U.S.C. § 2701 et seq. (“IGRA”). Peterson resisted the Summons, arguing that the Petitioner was without authority to impose a Federal excise tax upon the wagering in question and that, therefore, the Summons was without a lawful purpose. Accordingly, the Respondent declined to comply with the Summons.2

The processing of the Summons then went into hiatus for a period of over two years, during which the IRS continued its consideration of whether certain gaming operations, that were conducted by an Indian tribal government, should be subject to the Federal excise tax on wagering, as allowed by Title 26 U.S.C. §§ 4401(a) and 4411. By Revenue Ruling 94-81, the Petitioner generally reaffirmed the contents of an earlier Technical Advice Memorandum, and concluded that a Federal excise tax on wagering should apply to the pull tab operations of an Indian tribal [527]*527government, even though the same tax would not be applicable to a “lottery” conducted by a State agency that was operating under State law. See, Rev.Rul. 94-81.

Now, the Petitioner seeks this Court’s Order to enforce the directives of the IRS’s Administrative Summons. In addition to the Declaration of Reinke, the IRS has supported its Petition, by the Declaration of Fischer, which provides in relevant part:

6. The books, papers, records or other data sought by the summons are not already in possession of the Internal Revenue Service.
7. All administrative steps required by the Internal Revenue Code for issuance of a summons have been taken.
8. It is necessary to obtain testimony and to examine the books, papers, records, and other data sought by the summons in order to properly investigate the federal tax liability of Fond du Lac Reservation Business Committee for all periods from January 1,1986 through and including April 30, 1992.
9. There has been no referral for criminal prosecution to the Department of Justice within the meaning of 26 U.S.C. Section 7602(c)(2).

These averments have not been controverted, and the Respondent challenges the propriety of the Administrative Summons solely upon the ground that, in the Respondent’s view, the Summons does not perform a proper legal function.3

III. Discussion

A. Standard of Review. The Administrative Summonses of the IRS are not self-enforcing. In re Testimony of Arthur Andersen & Co., 832 F.2d 1057, 1059 n. 2 (8th Cir.1987). However, “[i]f the taxpayer refuses to comply with [an IRS] summons, the United States may seek judicial enforcement * * * in the appropriate federal district court which ‘shall have jurisdiction * * * to compel such attendance, testimony, or production of books, papers, or other data.’ ” United States v. Carter, 988 F.2d 68, 69 (8th Cir.1993), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 114 S.Ct. 744, 126 L.Ed.2d 706 (1994), citing United States v.

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906 F. Supp. 523, 76 A.F.T.R.2d (RIA) 6568, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 17596, 1995 WL 692695, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-fond-du-lac-reservation-business-committee-mnd-1995.