Civil Assessments, Restitution for Same Fraud Are Permissible

Civil assessments and restitution for the same fraudulent activity are legally separate and the IRS can levy property for failure to pay either, the US District Court for the Western District of Washington ruled.

Judge Benjamin H. Settle said Charles Brown’s arguments against paying both “crash headlong into the express restrictions on challenges to restitution” laid out in IRC Section 6201.

Brown committed tax fraud to claim over $1.2 million in refunds in 2004 and 2006, and was issued civil assessments to pay the funds back in 2010. The government then brought criminal charges, and in 2014 he pleaded ...