The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a case involving a Coinbase user that accused him of violating his Fourth Amendment rights to data sent to the IRS.
In a notice on Monday, the country’s Supreme Court deny Review James Harper’s motion on the IRS and several of its officials’ cases. The case stems from the IRS forcing Coinbase to hand over data from certain users in a “John Doe” subpoena, leading Harper to file a lawsuit against the federal tax collection agency in 2020.
Harper’s initial complaint It is said that The IRS and its officials conducted “illegal searches and seizures of (his) private financial information” in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The U.S. District Court for New Hampshire dismissed the case in March 2021, leading to an appeal against the First Circuit, which also issued a ruling against Harper.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AV7XIOY4ZVC
Without the Supreme Court considering the potential judgment in the case, the lower court’s ruling would be implemented, providing US crypto users with important digital privacy precedents.
Common cases Submitted to a friend of the court The U.S. government supports Harper’s petition, claiming that if the lower court’s ruling position could “track every crypto transaction in the past and monitor every future crypto transaction.”
Related: Supreme Court Rules for U.S. Crypto Corporation
“We believe in tax compliance, but this goes far beyond narrow and tailored requirements and goes far beyond cryptocurrencies.” explain Coinbase Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal in an April 30 post. “This applies to banks, phone companies, ISPs, emails, you name them (…) You should have the privacy of your inbox or account that is the same letters in your mailbox.”
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Crypto tax software company Coinledger reported a 758% increase in users mentioning IRS mail in support chats. This suggests that the agency may send an increase in the number of letters due to unreported or reported digital asset transactions. Although the company rejected Harper’s petition in the Supreme Court, it hints at the impact on user privacy.
“(IRS letters) do not necessarily indicate misconduct,” Coinledger said. “In many cases, the recipient is a crypto investor known as John Doe subpoena to exchanges such as Coinbase and Poloniex.”
Cointelegraph contacted a Coinbase spokesperson for comment, but received no response at the time of publication.
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