26 U.S.C. § 6708
Section 6708 · Failure to maintain lists of advisees with respect to reportable transactions
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 7 court decisions — leading case 660 F. Supp. 789 - Spriggs v. United States (1987)
Most recently applied in Robert Nagy v. United States (March 2013)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(1) In general
If any person who is required to maintain a list under section 6112(a) fails to make such list available upon written request to the Secretary in accordance with section 6112(b) within 20 business days after the date of such request, such person shall pay a penalty of $10,000 for each day of such failure after such 20th day.
(2) Reasonable cause exception
No penalty shall be imposed by paragraph (1) with respect to the failure on any day if such failure is due to reasonable cause.
The penalty imposed by this section shall be in addition to any other penalty provided by law.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Codification
Another section 6708 was renumbered section 6709 of this title.
Amendments
2004—Pub. L. 108–357, §815(b)(5)(A), substituted “advisees with respect to reportable transactions” for “investors in potentially abusive tax shelters” in section catchline.
Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 108–357, §817(a), amended heading and text of subsec. (a) generally. Prior to amendment, text read as follows: “Any person who fails to meet any requirement imposed by section 6112 shall pay a penalty of $50 for each person with respect to whom there is such a failure, unless it is shown that such failure is due to reasonable cause and not due to willful neglect. The maximum penalty imposed under this subsection for any calendar year shall not exceed $100,000.”
1986—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 99–514 substituted “$100,000” for “$50,000”.
Effective Date of 2004 Amendment
Amendment by section 815(b)(5)(A) of Pub. L. 108–357 applicable to transactions with respect to which material aid, assistance, or advice referred to in section 6111(b)(1)(A)(i) of this title is provided after Oct. 22, 2004, see section 815(c) of Pub. L. 108–357, set out as a note under section 6111 of this title.
Pub. L. 108–357, title VIII, §817(b), Oct. 22, 2004, 118 Stat. 1584, provided that: “The amendment made by this section [amending this section] shall apply to requests made after the date of the enactment of this Act [Oct. 22, 2004].”
Effective Date of 1986 Amendment
Section 1534(b) of Pub. L. 99–514 provided that: “The amendments made by this section [amending this section] shall apply to failures occurring or continuing after the date of the enactment of this Act [Oct. 22, 1986].”
Effective Date
Section applicable to any interest which is first sold to any investor after Aug. 31, 1984, see section 142(d) of Pub. L. 98–369, set out as a note under section 6112 of this title.