I 
116TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 1219 
To amend title 31, United States Code, to prohibit the Internal Revenue 
Service from carrying out seizures relating to a structuring transaction 
unless the property to be seized derived from an illegal source or the 
funds were structured for the purpose of concealing the violation of 
another criminal law or regulation, to require notice and a post-seizure 
hearing for such seizures, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 14, 2019 
Mr. COLLINS of Georgia (for himself, Mr. KELLY of Pennsylvania, Mr. SMITH 
of Missouri, and Mr. LEWIS) introduced the following bill; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the 
Committee on Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To amend title 31, United States Code, to prohibit the Inter-
nal Revenue Service from carrying out seizures relating 
to a structuring transaction unless the property to be 
seized derived from an illegal source or the funds were 
structured for the purpose of concealing the violation 
of another criminal law or regulation, to require notice 
and a post-seizure hearing for such seizures, and for 
other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Clyde-Hirsch-Sowers 
RESPECT Act’’ or the ‘‘Restraining Excessive Seizure of 
Property through the Exploitation of Civil Asset For-
feiture Tools Act’’. 
SEC. 2. INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE SEIZURE REQUIRE-
MENTS WITH RESPECT TO STRUCTURING 
TRANSACTIONS. 
Section 5317(c)(2) of title 31, United States Code, 
is amended— 
(1) by striking ‘‘Any property’’ and inserting 
the following: 
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Any property’’; and 
(2) by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘(B) INTERNAL
REVENUE
SERVICE
SEI-
ZURE
REQUIREMENTS
WITH
RESPECT
TO 
STRUCTURING TRANSACTIONS.— 
‘‘(i) PROPERTY DERIVED FROM AN IL-
LEGAL
SOURCE.—Property may only be 
seized by the Internal Revenue Service 
pursuant to subparagraph (A) by reason of 
a claimed violation of section 5324 if the 
property to be seized was derived from an 
illegal source or the funds were structured 
for the purpose of concealing the violation 
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of a criminal law or regulation other than 
section 5324. 
‘‘(ii) NOTICE.—Not later than 30 
days after property is seized by the Inter-
nal Revenue Service pursuant to subpara-
graph (A), the Internal Revenue Service 
shall— 
‘‘(I) make a good faith effort to 
find all persons with an ownership in-
terest in such property; and 
‘‘(II) provide each such person 
with a notice of the seizure and of the 
person’s rights under clause (iv). 
‘‘(iii) EXTENSION OF NOTICE UNDER 
CERTAIN
CIRCUMSTANCES.—The Internal 
Revenue Service may apply to a court of 
competent jurisdiction for one 30-day ex-
tension of the notice requirement under 
clause (ii) if the Internal Revenue Service 
can establish probable cause of an immi-
nent threat to national security or personal 
safety necessitating such extension. 
‘‘(iv) POST-SEIZURE
HEARING.—If a 
person with a property interest in property 
seized pursuant to subparagraph (A) by 
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the Internal Revenue Service requests a 
hearing by a court of competent jurisdic-
tion within 30 days after the date on which 
notice is provided under subclause (ii), 
such property shall be returned unless the 
court holds an adversarial hearing and 
finds within 30 days of such request (or 
such longer period as the court may pro-
vide, but only on request of an interested 
party) that there is probable cause to be-
lieve that there is a violation of section 
5324 involving such property and probable 
cause to believe that the property to be 
seized was derived from an illegal source or 
the funds were structured for the purpose 
of concealing the violation of a criminal 
law or regulation other than section 
5324.’’. 
SEC. 3. EXCLUSION OF INTEREST RECEIVED IN ACTION TO 
RECOVER PROPERTY SEIZED BY THE INTER-
NAL REVENUE SERVICE BASED ON STRUC-
TURING TRANSACTION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Part III of subchapter B of chap-
ter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended 
by inserting before section 140 the following new section: 
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‘‘SEC. 139H. INTEREST RECEIVED IN ACTION TO RECOVER 
PROPERTY SEIZED BY THE INTERNAL REV-
ENUE SERVICE BASED ON STRUCTURING 
TRANSACTION. 
‘‘Gross income shall not include any interest received 
from the Federal Government in connection with an action 
to recover property seized by the Internal Revenue Service 
pursuant to section 5317(c)(2) of title 31, United States 
Code, by reason of a claimed violation of section 5324 of 
such title.’’. 
(b) CLERICAL AMENDMENT.—The table of sections 
for part III of subchapter B of chapter 1 of such Code 
is amended by inserting before the item relating to section 
140 the following new item: 
‘‘Sec. 139H. Interest received in action to recover property seized by the Inter-
nal Revenue Service based on structuring transaction.’’. 
(c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 
this section shall apply to interest received on or after the 
date of the enactment of this Act. 
Æ 
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