Anthony N. Grimes v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue Service

We consider whether the illegal seizure of evidence by agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Drug Enforcement Agency (collectively “FBI”) necessarily precludes use of that evidence by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) in a civil tax proceeding.

Grimes appeals the Tax Court’s entry of a decision assessing delinquent taxes and imposing fraud penalties. Grimes argues that the Tax Court erred in ruling that the exclusionary rule established in Weeks v. United States, 232 U.S. 383 , 34 S.Ct. 341 , 58 L.Ed. 652 (1914) does not apply in a civil tax proceeding. He also argues that the Tax Court erred in entering a decision based in part on information from documents ordered returned to Grimes by a district court pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 41(e).

We have jurisdiction over Grimes’ timely appeal from a final decision of the Tax Court. 26 U.S.C. § 7482 . Under the circumstances present in these civil tax proceedings, neither the exclusionary rule nor Rule 41(e) prohibits the IRS from using information from doeu- ments seized by FBI agents during an allegedly illegal search in an unrelated criminal investigation. We affirm.

I

Grimes did not pay taxes or file tax returns for…