United States v. Brian Tanoue

We must decide whether an employee may be compelled to provide handwriting exemplars during the investigation of his employer by the Internal Revenue Service.

I

Brian Tanoue appeals the district court’s order enforcing an Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) summons requiring him to submit handwriting exemplars in order to determine if Tanoue prepared .tax returns for his employer, David Chang, for 1991 and 1992.

The IRS is conducting a criminal tax investigation of Chang and his business, Fortune Design Collections, Inc., for tax years 1988-92. Tanoue was an employee of Fortune Design and may have provided accounting services to the corporation for tax years 1991-92. In an interview during the course of the investigation of Chang, IRS Special Agent John Teraoka informed Tanoue that he was not a “target” of the investigation, but a “witness,” and subsequently asked Ta-noue if he participated in Fortune Design’s or Chang’s accounting affairs. Refusing to answer, Tanoue invoked his Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.

For purposes of his investigation, Teraoka determined that he needed to learn the identity of the person whose handwriting appears on the tax returns…