[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 26, Volume 18]
[Revised as of April 1, 2003]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 26CFR403.38]

[Page 773-774]
 
                       TITLE 26--INTERNAL REVENUE
 
    CHAPTER I--INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY 
                               (CONTINUED)
 
PART 403--DISPOSITION OF SEIZED PERSONAL PROPERTY--Table of Contents
 
            Subpart D--Remission or Mitigation of Forfeitures
 
Sec. 403.38  Contents of the petition.

    (a) Description of the property. The petition should contain such a 
description of the property and such facts of the seizure as will enable 
the Commissioner or his delegate to identify the property.
    (b) Statement regarding knowledge of seizure. In the event the 
petition is filed for the restoration of the proceeds derived from sale 
of the property pursuant to an administrative forfeiture, it should 
contain, or be supported by, satisfactory proof that the petitioner did 
not know and could not have known of the seizure prior to the 
declaration of forfeiture. (See also Sec. 403.39)
    (c) Interest of petitioner. The petition should clearly and 
concisely indicate the nature and amount of his interest in the property 
on the date the petition is filed, and the facts relied upon to show 
that the petitioner was not willfully negligent and did not intend that 
the property be involved or used in violation of the internal revenue 
laws. Such petition may allege such other circumstances which in the 
opinion of the petitioner would justify the remission or mitigation of 
the forfeiture.
    (d) Petitioner innocent party. If the petitioner did not commit the 
act which caused the seizure of his property, the petition should state 
how the property came into the possession of the person whose act did 
cause the seizure, and it should also state that the petitioner

[[Page 774]]

had no knowledge or reason to believe that the property would be 
involved or used in violation of the internal revenue laws. If the 
petitioner knows, at the time he files the petition, that the person in 
whose possession the seized property was at the time of the seizure had 
a record or reputation for committing commercial crimes, the petitioner 
should state in the petition whether the petitioner knew of such record 
or reputation before the petitioner acquired his interest in the 
property or before such other person came into possession of the 
property, whichever occured later. For purposes of this paragraph, the 
term ``commercial crimes'' includes, but is not limited to any of the 
following federal or state crimes:
    (1) Offenses against the revenue laws; burglary; counterfeiting, 
forgery; kidnapping; larceny; robbery; illegal sale or possession of 
deadly weapons; prostitution (including soliciting, procuring, 
pandering, white slaving, keeping house of ill fame, and like offenses); 
extortion; swindling and confidence games; and attempting to commit, 
conspiring to commit, or compounding any of the foregoing crimes. 
Addiction to narcotic drugs and use of marijuana will be treated as 
commercial crimes.
    (2) [Reserved]
    (e) Documents supporting claim. The petition should be accompanied 
by copies, certified by the petitioner under oath as correct, of 
contracts, bills of sale, chattel mortgages, reports of investigators or 
credit reporting agencies, affidavits, and any other documents that 
would support the claims made in the petition.
    (f) Costs. The petition should contain an undertaking to pay any 
costs assessed as a condition of allowance of the petition. Such costs 
include but are not limited to all expenses incurred in seizing and 
storing the property; the costs borne or to be borne by the United 
States; the taxes, if any, payable by the petitioner or imposed in 
respect of the property to which the petition relates; the penalty, if 
any, asserted by the Internal Revenue Service; and, if the property has 
been sold, or is in the course of being sold, the expenses incurred 
relating to such sale.