Kenneth H. Reiserer Reiserer & Agee Llp, by Kenneth H. Reiserer, Its Successor in Interest v. United States

The Estate of Kenneth Reiserer and the law firm Reiserer & Agee LLP (collectively, Reiserer) appeal the denial of their motion to quash an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) summons issued to the Bank of America. The IRS issued the summons in connection with its investigation to determine whether penalties should be imposed on Reiserer pursuant to 26 U.S.C. §§ 6700 and 6701 for promoting an abusive tax shelter. The district court had jurisdiction pursuant to 26 U.S.C. §§ 7609 (b)(2) and 7609(h) and entered a final order denying the petition. This court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1291 .

On appeal, Reiserer contends that the district court erred when it held that: (1) the penalties under those sections survived Kenneth Reiserer’s death, and (2) the attorney-client privilege did not protect the material requested from the Bank of America. We affirm.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

Kenneth Reiserer was an attorney whose practice included tax planning services. The IRS alleged that he was involved in an abusive tax arrangement known as offshore employee leasing (OEL). Reiserer was an officer or director of several domestic leasing corporations involved in an OEL scheme.…