New Motion Defends Request To Quash IRS Summons For Coinbase Customer Info
Jeffrey Berns, an attorney representing Coinbase in its legal fight against the Internal Revenue Service summons to provide customer information, recently filed a response to the “John Doe” summons, asking the court to quash the summons in its entirety, order a limited hearing and discovery into government’s good faith, or reconsider its decision to grant the IRS petition. Berns’ motion calls the IRS summons “unprecedented use” of the IRS John Doe summons procedure. Coinbase has said it is committed to customer privacy and opposes the government’s efforts to gain customer information.....
Related News
The U.S. government’s battle to get Coinbase to comply with its summons to provide information about its customers continues. A federal judge has agreed to move a hearing date to March 23 to consider arguments against the summons. On Feb. 3, 2017, Jacqueline Scott Corley, a U.S. magistrate judge, granted the government’s request to continue the hearing date to March 23, 2017 for motions to intervene filed by attorney Jeffrey Berns and Coinbase in their efforts to challenge the summons served by the IRS. Coinbase Fights IRS Summons. Berns, a Coinbase customer and attorney, filed a motion on....
The lawyer fighting a one-man battle against the IRS on behalf of thousands of Coinbase customers has not been swayed by the tax agency's efforts to appease him. Instead of pacifying Coinbase user Jeffrey Berns, the IRS’s change of tack seems to have made him more determined to carry on the fight. In response to a motion to intervene on behalf of Coinbase users filed by Berns via his law firm, Berns Weiss, the IRS yesterday submitted its own amendment to its request for the personal information of thousands of the firm's customers. Since Berns had revealed himself as a Coinbase user in his....
Do not be mistaken in thinking the US government shows no further concern over bitcoin users, though. The ongoing IRS investigation against Coinbase is far from over at this point. A federal court granted a stipulation filed by the government to move the hearing date for Jeffrey Berns’ motions. Berns still continues to oppose the IRS’ John Doe summons, as he feels the investigation based on prejudice rather than solid evidence. Obtaining sensitive customer records from bitcoin enthusiasts raises a lot of questions, that much is certain. Unfortunately, it looks like the IRS-Coinbase....
Editor’s Note: The article’s headline and content has been amended to note that the motion was filed by a customer of Coinbase and not the exchange, as reported erroneously, earlier. The misinformation is regretted. A customer from bitcoin exchange Coinbase has filed a motion [PDF] in a San Francisco federal court to block the Internal Revenue Service from accessing transaction records of bitcoin users. The IRS filed a civil petition on November 17, targeting transaction records of bitcoiners registered with the exchange between January 2013 and December 2015. On December 1, a federal....
Two weeks ago, managing partner of Berns Weiss LLP Jeffrey K. Burns filed a motion to set aside the “John Doe” summons against any and all American Coinbase customers. Today, the IRS had an interesting response for Mr. Berns. IRS Counters: Berns’ ‘Motion is Moot’. The Bitcoin community has been somewhat justified in their disturbance over the recent “John Doe” summons against any and all American Coinbase customers a little over one month ago. Thusly, Coinbase is subject to this legislative tool used for retrieving bulk data from companies, rather than details of specific known customers,....