7.

General Enforcement—Expedited Plea Program

The IRS and the Tax Division have implemented a nationwide guilty plea program in certain administratively-investigated criminal tax cases. Under this program, the IRS may refer a case directly and simultaneously to both the United States Attorney and the Tax Division for an expedited guilty plea, if only legal source income is involved (i.e., neither narcotics nor organized crime), and the taxpayer's counsel indicates that the taxpayer wishes to enter such a guilty plea. This process permits the Government to dispose expeditiously those cases in which the target of the investigation does not contest criminal liability. In expedited plea cases, the IRS first considers the proposed plea to ensure legal sufficiency. It then forwards an abbreviated referral to both the United States Attorney and the Tax Division. The authority to conduct plea negotiations and to accept the plea rests with the United States Attorney and the Tax Division and not with the IRS. When approving pleas in these cases, Tax Division criminal enforcement section attorneys and Assistant United States Attorneys must ensure that the expedited plea is consistent with the Tax Division's major count policy. See Tax Division Directive No. 111, dated February 11, 1999; see also IRM 9.6.2.2 et seq. [Updated September 2007] [cited in USAM 6-4.110]