Commonwealth v. Burgess

The defendants in these cases were suspected of using falsified Federal income tax returns to misrepresent lost earnings and as part of schemes to defraud insurance companies. A provision of the Internal Revenue Code precludes the Commonwealth from obtaining the defendants’ tax returns directly from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Therefore, the Commonwealth moved the Superior Court to order each defendant to execute an IRS form authorizing the release of his tax returns for the relevant tax periods. The defendants opposed the Commonwealth’s motions by invoking the privilege against…