Donna L. Todd v. United States of America and R.S. Wintrode, Jr., District Director, Internal Revenue Service

ORDER

The court’s opinion filed October 20, 1986, and reported at 802 F.2d 1152 -58 (9th Cir.1986), is hereby withdrawn and replaced with the attached opinion.

OPINION

This appeal is the result of a Bivens action against IRS agents for damages arising out of a penalty imposed under 26 U.S.C. § 6702 . The United States and the individual IRS agents appeal a partial denial of their motion for summary judgment. The district court dismissed Todd’s claims against the United States and the individual defendants acting in their “official” capacities on sovereign immunity grounds. The district court upheld Todd’s claims against the IRS agents in their “individual” capacities, concluding that the agents violated Todd’s “clearly established” First and Fifth Amendment rights. We reverse.

I

The plaintiff, Donna L. Todd, filed a federal income tax return and an amended return for 1982. Below the jurat, she typed “signed involuntarily under penalty of statutory punishment.”

The IRS assessed a $500 penalty against Todd pursuant to 26 U.S.C. § 6702 . In response to a letter from Todd, R.S. Win-trode, Jr., the IRS District Director in Helena, Montana, wrote to Todd and explained that the…