WHAT WE DO

The Tax Division represents the United States and its officers in most civil and criminal litigation that concerns or relates to the internal revenue laws. Tax Division attorneys seek to secure correct, uniform and fair interpretations of the internal revenue laws in federal district and appellate courts and to ensure that uniform standards are applied in criminal tax prosecutions. Tax Division attorneys work closely with the Internal Revenue Service and United States Attorneys' Offices to develop tax administration policies; handle civil trial and appellate litigation in federal and state courts; pursue federal grand jury investigations; and handle criminal prosecutions and appeals.

Significant recent Tax Division initiatives include the following:

• Participating in the President's Corporate Fraud Task Force
–  Working with the Securities and Exchange Commission to promote corporate integrity
–  Pursuing criminal tax investigations and prosecutions of corporate executives
• Handling criminal investigations and prosecutions of terrorist financing cases
• Fighting abusive and fraudulent tax promotions


–  Seeking civil injunctions against promoters of abusive tax schemes
–  Handling criminal prosecutions of major tax fraud promoters
–  Working with the Federal Trade Commission to combat internet fraud schemes
–  Using both civil and criminal tools to put tax fraud promoters out of business
• Enforcing IRS summonses for records of corporate tax shelters
• Attacking the use of foreign bank accounts to evade taxes


–  Enforcing IRS summonses for records of offshore credit card transactions
–  Initiating criminal investigations of suspects in offshore tax evasion cases
• Combating schemes that cheat the IRS through abuse of the bankruptcy system
• Enhancing policy coordination between the Tax Division and the IRS