Opinion
CIVIL ACTION NO. 1:05-CV-2444.
October 9, 2008
ORDER
AND NOW, this 9th day of October, 2008, upon consideration of the motion (Doc. 88) filed by non-party the United States Internal Revenue Service ("IRS") seeking to suspend the IRS's disclosure obligations described in Paragraph 2 of the order of court dated May 5, 2008 (Doc. 80), which required the IRS to produce the personal federal income tax returns of plaintiff Augustine Bonsu and Kwaku Asamoah, and it appearing that the IRS has refused to produce the required documents by invoking the prohibition upon government disclosure of tax returns and "return information" contained in 26 U.S.C. § 6103(a), (see Doc. 88), and it further appearing that § 6103 describes administrative procedures according to which an individual may request disclosure of the individual's own return information, see § 6103(e), as well as procedures by which a decedent's next of kin may request disclosure of a decedent's return information,see § 6103(e)(3), and that the parties admit that plaintiff has made no formal, written request to the IRS for the sought-after tax return information, (see Doc. 102), and the court concluding that the written request procedures described in § 6103 are an appropriate means of obtaining the above-described tax return information, it is hereby ORDERED that:
1. The IRS's motion (Doc. 88) to vacate Paragraph 2 of the order of court dated May 5, 2008 (Doc. 80) is GRANTED without prejudice to the parties right to re-file a motion to compel in the event that plaintiff is unable to obtain the requested information through the process detailed in § 6103.