Appeal from the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan at Flint.
No. 4:19-cv-10956—Stephanie Dawkins Davis, District Judge.
Decided and Filed: January 7, 2022
Before: MOORE, KETHLEDGE, and DONALD, Circuit Judges
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OPINION
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KAREN NELSON MOORE, Circuit Judge. In pursuit of over $2 million of a taxpayer’s
unpaid liabilities, the IRS issued administrative summonses to the banks of the taxpayer’s wife
and lawyers, Petitioners in this case. The IRS did not notify Petitioners of the summonses,
relying on relevant provisions of the Internal Revenue Code excluding summonses issued “in aid
of the collection” of tax assessments from its notice provisions. We conclude that the
summonses were issued in aid of the IRS’s collection efforts and that Petitioners were not
entitled to notice. Because the United States waives sovereign immunity only when a taxpayer
entitled to notice challenges a summons, the district court lacked subject-matter jurisdiction over
Petitioners’ proceedings to quash the summonses. Accordingly, we AFFIRM the judgment of
the district court. |