§5614 — Title 26 Internal Revenue Code | U.S. Code

§5614 Burden of Proof in Cases of Seizure of Spirits

Title 26 › Subtitle Subtitle E— Alcohol, Tobacco, and Certain Other Excise Taxes › Chapter 51— DISTILLED SPIRITS, WINES, AND BEER › Subchapter J— Penalties, Seizures, and Forfeitures Relating to Liquors › Part I— PENALTY, SEIZURE, AND FORFEITURE PROVISIONS APPLICABLE TO DISTILLING, RECTIFYING, AND DISTILLED AND RECTIFIED PRODUCTS › § 5614

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

When the government seizes distilled spirits found somewhere they are not supposed to be, such as outside a distilled spirits plant, an authorized warehouse, a wholesale liquor dealer's place of business, or transit between those places, the burden of proof flips. The same is true for spirits found in those places that were handled, recorded, or moved in violation of the law. The person claiming the spirits must prove that no fraud occurred and that all the legal requirements for paying the tax were met.

Title 26, §5614

Internal Revenue Code — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Whenever seizure is made of any distilled spirits found elsewhere than on the premises of a distilled spirits plant, or than in any warehouse authorized by law, or than in the store or place of business of a wholesale liquor dealer, or than in transit from any one of said places; or of any distilled spirits found in any one of the places aforesaid, or in transit therefrom, which have not been received into or sent out therefrom in conformity to law, or in regard to which any of the entries required by law, or regulations issued pursuant thereto, to be made in respect of such spirits, have not been made at the time or in the manner required, or in respect to which any owner or person having possession, control, or charge of said spirits, has omitted to do any act required to be done, or has done or committed any act prohibited in regard to said spirits, the burden of proof shall be upon the claimant of said spirits to show that no fraud has been committed, and that all the requirements of the law in relation to the payment of the tax have been complied with.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Prior Provisions

A prior section 5614, act Aug. 16, 1954, ch. 736, 68A Stat. 685, related to penalty and forfeiture for removal of spirits during prohibited hours, prior to the general revision of this chapter by Pub. L. 85–859. See section 5687 and 7301 of this title. Provisions similar to those comprising this section were contained in prior section 5649, act Aug. 16, 1954, ch. 736, 68A Stat. 694, prior to the general revision of this chapter by Pub. L. 85–859.