It shall be unlawful for any applicable person to request, directly or indirectly, any officer or employee of the Internal Revenue Service to conduct or terminate an audit or other investigation of any particular taxpayer with respect to the tax liability of such taxpayer.
Any officer or employee of the Internal Revenue Service receiving any request prohibited by subsection (a) shall report the receipt of such request to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.
Subsection (a) shall not apply to any written request made-
Any person who willfully violates subsection (a) or fails to report under subsection (b) shall be punished upon conviction by a fine in any amount not exceeding $5,000, or imprisonment of not more than 5 years, or both, together with the costs of prosecution.
For purposes of this section, the term "applicable person" means-
26 U.S.C. § 7217
EDITORIAL NOTES
PRIOR PROVISIONSA prior section 7217, added Pub. L. 94-455, title XII, §1202(e)(1), Oct. 4, 1976, 90 Stat. 1687; amended Pub. L. 95-600, title VII, §701(bb)(7), Nov. 6, 1978, 92 Stat. 2923, related to civil damages for unauthorized disclosure of returns and return information, prior to repeal by Pub. L. 97-248, title III, §357(b)(1), (c), Sept. 3, 1982, 96 Stat. 646, applicable with respect to disclosures made after Sept. 3, 1982.
STATUTORY NOTES AND RELATED SUBSIDIARIES
EFFECTIVE DATE Pub. L. 105-206, §1105(c), July 22, 1998, 112 Stat. 711, provided that: "The amendments made by this section [enacting this section] shall apply to requests made after the date of the enactment of this Act [July 22, 1998]."
- Attorney General
- The term "Attorney General" means the Attorney General of the United States.
- Secretary of the Treasury
- The term "Secretary of the Treasury" means the Secretary of the Treasury, personally, and shall not include any delegate of his.
- person
- The term "person" shall be construed to mean and include an individual, a trust, estate, partnership, association, company or corporation.
- taxpayer
- The term "taxpayer" means any person subject to any internal revenue tax.