26 U.S.C. § 7408
Section 7408 · Actions to enjoin specified conduct related to tax shelters and reportable transactions
Amended 3 times on record
Applied in 90 court decisions — leading case United States v. Balanced Financial Management, Inc. (1985)
Most recently applied in United States v. Bradley Olson (April 2024)
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.
A civil action in the name of the United States to enjoin any person from further engaging in specified conduct may be commenced at the request of the Secretary. Any action under this section shall be brought in the district court of the United States for the district in which such person resides, has his principal place of business, or has engaged in specified conduct. The court may exercise its jurisdiction over such action (as provided in section 7402(a)) separate and apart from any other action brought by the United States against such person.
In any action under subsection (a), if the court finds—
(1) that the person has engaged in any specified conduct, and
(2) that injunctive relief is appropriate to prevent recurrence of such conduct,
the court may enjoin such person from engaging in such conduct or in any other activity subject to penalty under this title.
For purposes of this section, the term “specified conduct” means any action, or failure to take action, which is—
(1) subject to penalty under section 6700, 6701, 6707, or 6708, or
(2) in violation of any requirement under regulations issued under section 330 of title 31, United States Code.
If any citizen or resident of the United States does not reside in, and does not have his principal place of business in, any United States judicial district, such citizen or resident shall be treated for purposes of this section as residing in the District of Columbia.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Prior Provisions
A prior section 7408 was renumbered section 7410 of this title.
Amendments
2004—Pub. L. 108–357, §820(b)(1), amended section catchline generally, substituting “Actions to enjoin specified conduct related to tax shelters and reportable transactions” for “Action to enjoin promoters of abusive tax shelters, etc.”
Subsecs. (a) to (d). Pub. L. 108–357, §820(a), added subsecs. (a) to (c), redesignated former subsec. (c) as (d), and struck out former subsecs. (a) and (b), which authorized a civil action to enjoin any person from further engaging in conduct subject to penalty under section 6700 or 6701 of this title and authorized the court, if it found that the person had engaged in such conduct and that injunctive relief was appropriate, to enjoin such person from engaging in such conduct or in any other activity subject to penalty under section 6700 or 6701.
1984—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 98–369, §143(b)(1), (2), inserted “or section 6701 (relating to penalties for aiding and abetting understatement of tax liability)” and inserted reference to section 6701 at end of second sentence.
Subsec. (b). Pub. L. 98–369, §143(b)(1), (3), inserted “or section 6701 (relating to penalties for aiding and abetting understatement of tax liability),” in par. (1) and inserted reference to section 6701 at end.
Effective Date of 2004 Amendment
Pub. L. 108–357, title VIII, §820(c), Oct. 22, 2004, 118 Stat. 1585, provided that: “The amendment made by this section [amending this section] shall take effect on the day after the date of the enactment of this Act [Oct. 22, 2004].”
Effective Date of 1984 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 98–369 effective on day after July 18, 1984, see section 143(c) of Pub. L. 98–369, set out as a note under section 6700 of this title.
Effective Date
Section 321(c) of Pub. L. 97–248 provided that: “The amendments made by this section [enacting this section] shall take effect on the day after the date of the enactment of this Act [Sept. 3, 1982].”