A recent article in Reuters reports that First Data Corp. and the IRS have come to an agreement over “John Doe Summons” activity to identify merchants that might be hiding money in offshore accounts.
I’m OK with the IRS going after illegal activities and I guess I’m OK with them going after offshore income. What I’m NOT OK with is what I think I’m seeing here. As a former police officer I can tell you that fishing expeditions are frowned upon. This agreement looks like First Data is permitting the IRS to fish in their data pond.
If the IRS has reason to believe that there are merchants hiding income in offshore accounts then they probably have at least some idea of who the merchants are. Let them subpoena those records. First Data reaching an agreement with the IRS is a big step from complying with a subpoena, and First Data should not be permitting any government entity to sniff around looking for people to prosecute. It sounds like a Fourth Amendment issue to me, you know- that unreasonable search and seizure thing.
