United States of America Charles L. Gresham, Revenue Officer of the Internal Revenue Service v. David O. Saunders and Sharon Saunders

In March 1990, the Internal Revenue Service served summonses on David and Sharon Saunders to appear and produce records for tax years 1981 through 1988. 26 U.S.C. § 7602 . Although the Saunders appeared as directed, they refused to turn over the documents and records requested in the summonses. The IRS then filed an action in federal district court to enforce the summonses. 26 U.S.C. § 7604 (b). In December 1990, the district court denied the Saunders’ motion to dismiss and issued an order enforcing the summonses. The Saunders appeal. We affirm.

1. Standard of Review

The district court’s decision to enforce the IRS summonses will be reversed only for clear error. See United States v. Abrahams, 905 F.2d 1276, 1280 (9th Cir.1990). To the extent the district court predicated its judgment on issues of statutory construction, we review de novo. See Saratoga Sav. & Loan Ass’n v. Federal Home Loan Bank Bd., 879 F.2d 689, 691 (9th Cir.1989). We also review de novo the question of the district court’s jurisdiction. Owner-Operators Indep. Drivers Ass’n v. Skinner, 931 F.2d 582 , 584 (9th Cir.1991).

2. OMB Number

The Saunders argue first that the summonses were invalid because they…