IRS Church Inquiry Rules Do Not Apply In Personal Tax Investigation

In Pennington v. United States, (WD TX, Jan. 29, 2010), a Texas federal district court refused to quash an IRS summons for bank records of a religious organization, Anchor Group. The records are titled in the name of the group's treasurer, James Pennington. The court held that the summons does not violate provisions of the Internal Revenue Code relating to church tax inquiries (IRC Sec. 7611) because it was issued as part of the investigation of the personal tax liability of James and Lisa Pennington, not the liability of the religious organization.