(a) In general. No civil action for the collection or recovery of taxes, or of any fine, penalty, or forfeiture, shall be commenced unless the Commissioner (or the Director, Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Division, with respect to the provisions of subtitle E of the Code), or the Chief Counsel for the Internal Revenue Service or his delegate authorizes or sanctions the proceedings and the Attorney General or his delegate directs that the action be commenced.

(b) Property held by banks. The Commissioner shall not authorize or sanction any civil action for the collection or recovery of taxes, or of any fine, penalty, or forfeiture, from any deposits held in a foreign office of a bank engaged in the banking business in the United States or a possession of the United States unless the Commissioner believes—

(1) That the taxpayer is within the jurisdiction of a U.S. court at the time the civil action is authorized or sanctioned and that the bank is in possession of (or obligated with respect to) deposits of the taxpayer in an office of the bank outside the United States or a possession of the United States; or

(2) That the taxpayer is not within the jurisdiction of a U.S. court at the time the civil action is authorized or sanctioned, that the bank is in possession of (or obligated with respect to) deposits of the taxpayer in an office outside the United States or a possession of the United States, and that such deposits consist, in whole or in part, of funds transferred from the United States or a possession of the United States in order to hinder or delay the collection of a tax imposed by the Code.

For purposes of this paragraph, the term “possession of the United States” includes Guam, the Midway Islands, the Panama Canal Zone, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, the Virgin Islands, and Wake Island.

[32 FR 15241, Nov. 3, 1967, as amended by T.D. 7188, 37 FR 12796, June 29, 1972]