U.S. District Court Upholds IRS Third-Party Summons in Church Tax Examination of Self-Declared Church (IRC §7611)

The U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado denied the taxpayer’s petition to quash the IRS’s summons to a third party as part of a church tax examination, determining that the summons was valid. The taxpayer, a self-declared church, argued that the third-party summons was subject to the procedural requirements of I.R.C. §7611 that govern church tax inquiries and examinations. Upon review, the Court rejected this argument, holding that §7611 does not apply to third-party summonses in church tax examinations. The Court, applying the Powell factors to evaluate the summons’ validity, determined that the IRS made a prima facie ...