Source: https://keystoliberty2.wordpress.com/2012/07/11/court-relation-back-doctrine-defeats-summary-administrative-process-part-2/
Timestamp: 2019-04-19 04:50:41+00:00

Document:
choate lein, Federal Debt Collection Procedure, inchoate lien, Internal Revenue Code, IRS Liens, levy authority, lien authority, Lien for taxes, Notice of seizure, relation back-defined, relation-back doctrine, statutory lien, Title 18, Title 26, U.S. v. Ball Costruction Co., United States v. City of New Britain, United States v. Real Property at 2659 Roundhill Drive, Walker v. Paramount Engineering Co.
Sec. 6321. Lien for taxes.
If any person liable to pay any tax neglects or refuses to pay the same within 10 days after notice and demand, it shall be lawful for the Secretary to collect such tax (and such further sum as shall be sufficient to cover the expenses of the levy) by levy upon all property and rights to property (except such property as is exempt under section 6334) belonging to such person or on which there is a lien provided in this chapter for the payment of such tax. Levy may be made upon the accrued salary or wages of any officer, employee, or elected official, of the United States, the District of Columbia, or any agency or instrumentality of the United States or the District of Columbia, by serving a notice of levy on the employer (as defined in section 3401(d)) of such officer, employee, or elected official.
Contrary to appearance of the two Code sections, the government’s interest in property, either for purposes of lien or levy, does not attach to or encumber rights, title or interest until the appropriate judicial action is initiated. This principle was articulated by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals (March 18, 2002) in United States of America v. Real Property At 2659 Roundhill Drive, Alamo, California , No. 00-16772.
The district court ruled that (1) the government’s acquiescence in the foreclosure sale did not constitute a release of its forfeiture interest in the property; (2) the government’s interest vested prior the purchasers’ interest by virtue of 21 U.S.C. § 881(h), n4 the forfeiture statute’s “relation back” provision; and (3) the purchasers were not “innocent owners “since the notice of lis pendens was sufficient to alert them to the forfeiture proceedings. While the forfeiture action was pending, the purchasers sold the property (with the court’s approval) and placed the proceeds in escrow. The district court granted summary judgment to the United States, which left the purchasers sustaining a net loss on their investment in the Roundhill property. The purchasers appealed.
We reversed, holding that the government had no legal interest in the property. United States v. 2659 Roundhill Drive, 194 F.3d 1020, 1027 (9th Cir. 1999) (“Roundhill I”). We applied United States v. 92 Buena Vista Ave., 507 U.S. 111 (1993), which held that the relation-back rule of 21 U.S.C. § 881(h) cannot be invoked until a final judgment of forfeiture has been entered; the United States had never obtained a final judgment. Therefore, according to Buena Vista, the government’s interest in the Roundhill property could not have related back to 1974 (when the Paytons engaged in drug trafficking), but rather dated back only to October 19, 1994, when it recorded its lis pendens. Since the lis pendens was recorded after the date World recorded its deed of trust (which also was the effective date of the purchasers’ interest) the government’s interest was extinguished by normal operation of long-standing California foreclosure law. n5 Thus, the purchasers took title to the property free and clear of the government’s interest. Roundhill I, 194 F.3d at 1027.
Sec. 7323. Judicial action to enforce forfeiture.
The proceedings to enforce such forfeitures shall be in the nature of a proceeding in rem in the United States District Court for the district where such seizure is made.
Sec. 7402. Jurisdiction of district courts.
(a) To issue orders, process, and judgments.
The two sections cited above specify the two forms of judicial action federal government has available when and if there is an act or omission contrary to internal revenue laws of the United States. Even though any given Code section may give rise to an interest, the interest isn’t perfected until there is a judgment from a court of competent jurisdiction. The interest is perfected via the judgment, but it dates to the act or omission that gave rise to the interest. This is the essence of relation-back doctrine, which is a common-law doctrine that predates the Constitution of the United States.
A principle that an act done today is considered to have been done at an earlier time. A document held in escrow and finally delivered is deemed to have been delivered as of the time at which it was escrowed.
Choate lien. Lien which is perfected so that nothing more need be done to make it enforcible. Identity of lienor, property subject to lien and amount of lien are all established. Walker v. Paramount Engineering Co., C.A.Mich., 353 F.2d 445, 449; United States v. City of New Britain, Conn., 347 U.S. 81, 74 S.C. 367, 369, 98 L.Ed. 520. The lien must be definite and not merely ascertainable in the future by taking further steps. Gower v. State Tax Commission, 207 Or. 288, 295 P.2d 162.
Inchoate. Imperfect; partial; unfinished; begun, but not completed; as a contract not executed by all the parties. State ex rel. McCubbin v. McMillian, Mo.App., 349 S.W.2d 453, 462.
Immediately following expiration of the 10-day automatic stay after entry of the judgment (whether by default, stipulation, court determination, or by the referral of a judgment from another district), see Fed. R. Civ. P. 62(a), immediate action shall be taken to perfect the judgment as a lien in accordance with the Federal Debt Collection Procedures Act. See 28 U.S.C. § 3201.
Special care should be taken to ensure that the judgment is perfected as a lien by filing a certified copy of the abstract of the judgment in the manner in which a notice of tax lien would be filed under paragraphs (1) and (2) of § 6323(f) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. A lien should be filed in accordance with state law filing requirements and should be filed in any state where the debtor owns real property.
Although it is rarely if ever completed, the Form 668-Y has a designated space on the back for the abstract of judgment. The purpose of the abstract is to enable interested parties to locate the judgment so they can review particulars. Unless the notice has the abstract on the back, the paper trail necessary to verify that there is a judgment and the nature, amount and object of the judgment is incomplete. If the document is incomplete with respect to essential elements, or includes vague or misleading information, it is an uttered instrument.
Since promulgation of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954, the Form 668-B Levy has been the proper form for legitimate levies. The “notice of levy” merely conveys information and is supposed to provide notice to the party a levy is executed against, not third parties.5 The notice of levy, which is commonly sent to third-party custodians of financial assets, is not an enforceable levy instrument. The Form 668-B Levy must be accompanied by the applicable writ issued from a court of competent jurisdiction in order for it to be enforceable – third-party custodians are supposed to receive the actual levy and writ.
Although the IRM section is phrased in a manner that probably doesn’t convey the substance of the Buena Vista decision, cited supra, unless someone actually reads the decision, Internal Revenue Service attorneys and ranking officers, if not lower-level IRS personnel, are obviously aware of the need for judicial due process before government agencies can lawfully encumber or convert private property. The Fifth Amendment due process clause is as much a barrier to civil action as the right to remain silent is to criminal. See Miranda v. Arizona, cited supra.
Two erroneous perceptions contribute to misunderstanding of federal tax administration and enforcement. The first, and possibly most serious, is that the Internal Revenue Code (Title 26 of the United States Code) is organized in such a fashion that administration follows the order of Code sections. The second is that the Internal Revenue Code contains all federal law relating to federal tax administration and enforcement. Neither is the case.
The United States Code is a classification system for laws of the United States. Annual session laws are published sequentially in the Statutes at Large; each section in any given statute Congress enacts is then “codified” in one or more titles of the United States Code. In order to determine “legislative construction” of any given Code section (it’s proper application), it is necessary to go to the section genesis in original legislation. Just because one Internal Revenue Code section follows another, or one categorical subtitle or chapter follows another, does not mean that the two sections, chapters, subtitles or whatever have more than passing relationship to each other unless there is internal reference that establishes the link.
Lien and levy authority (26 U.S.C. §§ 6321 & 6331) are in Subtitle F, Chapter 64 of the Internal Revenue Code. Crimes, seizures and forfeitures, and the judicial authority for seizures (§ 7323), are in Chapter 74. Proceedings for judicial action (civil action; § 7402) are in Chapter 75. If these sections were interpreted to be applicable in numerical sequence, it would appear that the Internal Revenue Service has unilateral authority to issue notices of lien and levy without judgments from courts of competent jurisdiction. However, the relation-back doctrine demonstrates that judicial process must be antecedent to encumbering and converting privately owned assets on behalf of the government. This is the reason § 7806(b) of the Internal Revenue Code, and comparable disclaimers for each of the other titles, withholds implications of legislative construction.
Sec. 7327. Customs laws applicable.
The provisions of law applicable to the remission or mitigation by the Secretary of forfeitures under the customs laws shall apply to forfeitures incurred or alleged to have been incurred under the internal revenue laws.
(2) to obtain, before judgment on a claim for a debt, a remedy in connection with such claim.
(b) Limitation. – To the extent that another Federal law specifies procedures for recovering on a claim or a judgment for a debt arising under such law, those procedures shall apply to such claim or judgment to the extent those procedures are inconsistent with this chapter.
Per § 3001, Federal Debt Collection Procedure in Chapter 176 of Title 28 provides exclusive civil procedure (judicial process) for the United States to collect debts “to the extent that another Federal law” doesn’t provide alternative procedure. Section 3002(3)(B) defines tax “owing to the United States” as a “debt” for purposes of Federal Debt Collection Procedure prescribed in Chapter 176 of Title 28. While there are technical exceptions for enforcement of tax law at 28 U.S.C. § 3003(b), the only alternative jurisdictional authority for judicial action to collect delinquent tax obligations is the admiralty/maritime in rem action accounted for at 26 U.S.C. § 7323 – jurisdiction of courts of the United States fall under the “arising under” clause or the admiralty/maritime clause. In either jurisdiction, whenever an alleged liability is contested, the matter must be adjudicated.
Those authorized to submit affidavits for tax-related criminal prosecution are listed at 18 U.S.C. § 3045. The Fourth Amendment and Rule 3 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure control criminal procedure. In general, however, testimony of a competent witness is necessary to secure civil judgments or criminal convictions. If there isn’t a competent witness who has first-hand knowledge of facts, any judgment is void.
While a civil complaint may be supported by an affidavit submitted on “information and belief,” if allegations in the affidavit are contested, the burden of proof still lies with the government. Contested facts are determined by juries in cases at law, i.e., in the course of the common law.

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