Yesterday, the Second Circuit remanded a case involving foreign
bank records for further development. In U.S. v. Natalio Fridman,
the taxpayer asserted his act of production privilege over certain
foreign bank records demanded by an IRS summons. The District Court
held that such records must be produced based on the foregone
conclusion doctrine, the collective entity doctrine, and/or the
required records exceptions to the Fifth Amendment's
protection. The Second Circuit found that the record was
insufficient to allow meaningful Appellate review of these rulings,
and remanded this portion of the case for further development.
This case is important in that it will again examine whether a
taxpayer is compelled to produce foreign bank records that may be
incriminating under the required records exception. If the summons
is ultimately upheld for those records falling within the 5-year
record retention requirement of the required records exception, any
remaining records
