(e) PURCHASERS.-If no person offers for said estate the amount of said minimum price, the officer shall declare the same to be purchased by him for the United States; otherwise the same shall be declared to be sold to the highest bidder.

[For deeds of sale, see section 3704 (a).]

(f) ADJOURNMENT OF SALE.-The said sale may be adjourned from time to time by said officer for not exceeding thirty days in all, if he shall think it advisable so to do. If the amount bid shall not be then and there paid, the officer shall forthwith proceed to again sell said estate in the same manner.

[For certificates of purchase, see section 3703.]

SEC. 3702. REDEMPTION OF REAL ESTATE.

(a) BEFORE SALE. Any person whose estate may be proceeded against as aforesaid shall have the right to pay the amount due, together with the costs and charges thereon, to the collector or deputy collector at any time prior to the sale thereof, and all further proceedings shall cease from the time of such payment.

(b) AFTER SALE.

(1) PERIOD. The owners of any real estate sold as aforesaid, their heirs, executors, or administrators, or any person having any interest therein, or a lien thereon, or any person in their behalf, shall be permitted to redeem the land sold, or any particular tract thereof, at any time within one year after the sale thereof.

(2) PRICE. The land or tract aforesaid shall be permitted to be redeemed upon payment to the purchaser, or in case he can not be found in the county in which the land to be redeemed is situated, then to the collector of the district in which the land is situated, for the use of the purchaser, his heirs, or assigns, the amount paid by the said purchaser and interest thereon at the rate of 20 per centum per annum.

(c) RECORD. When any lands sold are redeemed as provided in this section, the collector shall make entry of the fact upon the record mentioned in section 3706, and the said entry shall be evidence of such redemption.

SEC. 3703. CERTIFICATES OF PURCHASE.

(a) REAL ESTATE PURCHASED BY THE UNITED STATES. -In case the real estate sold under section 3701 shall be declared to be purchased for the United States, the officer shall immediately transmit a certificate of the purchase to the Commissioner.

(b) REAL ESTATE PURCHASED BY OTHERS.-Upon any sale of real estate, as provided in section 3701, and the payment of the purchase money, the officer making the seizure and sale shall give to the purchaser a certificate of purchase, which shall set forth the real estate purchased, for whose taxes the same was sold, the name of the purchaser, and the price paid therefor.

SEC. 3704. DEEDS OF SALE.

(a) REAL ESTATE PURCHASED BY THE UNITED STATES.-In case real estate shall be declared under section 3701 (e) to be purchased for the United States, the officer shall

(1) EXECUTION.-At the proper time, as provided in subsection (b), execute a deed therefor after its preparation and the endorsement of approval as to its form by the United States district attorney for the district in which the property is situate, and

(2) RECORD AND TRANSMISSION.-Without delay cause the same to be duly recorded in the proper registry of deeds, and immediately thereafter transmit such deed to the Commissioner.

(b) REAL ESTATE PURCHASED BY OTHERS.-If the said real estate be not redeemed in the manner and within the time provided in section 3702, the said collector or deputy collector shall execute to the said purchaser, upon his surrender of said certificate, a deed of the real estate purchased by him as aforesaid, reciting the facts set forth in said certificate, and in accordance with the laws of the State in which such real estate is situate upon the subject of sales of real estate under execution.

(c) LEGAL EFFECT.

(1) AS EVIDENCE.-The deed of sale given in pursuance of this section shall be prima facie evidence of the facts therein stated; and

(2) AS CONVEYANCE OF TITLE.—If the proceedings of the officer as set forth have been substantially in accordance with the provisions of law, such deed shall be considered and operate as a conveyance of all the right, title, and interest the party delinquent had in and to the real estate thus sold at the time the lien of the United States attached thereto.

SEC. 3705. TRANSMISSION OF CERTIFICATES AND DEEDS TO COMMISSIONER.

All certificates of purchase, and deeds of property purchased by the United States under the internal revenue laws, on sales for taxes, or under executions issued from United States courts, which may be found in the office of any collector, shall be immediately transmitted by such officer to the Commissioner.

SEC. 3706. RECORDS OF SALE.

(a) REQUIREMENT.-It shall be the duty of every collector to keep a record of all sales of land made in his collection district, whether by himself or his deputies, or by another collector. And it shall be the duty of every deputy making sale, as aforesaid, to return a statement of all his proceedings to the collector, and to certify the record thereof.

(b) CONTENTS.-The record shall set forth the tax for which any such sale was made, the dates of seizure and sale, the name of the party assessed and all proceedings in making said sale, the amount of fees and expenses, the name of the purchaser, and the date of the deed.

(c) CERTIFICATION. -The said record shall be certified by the officer making the sale.

(d) COPY TO COMMISSIONER.-On or before the 5th day of each succeeding month, the collector shall transmit a copy of such record of the preceding month to the Commissioner.

(e) DELIVERY BY COLLECTOR TO SUCCESSOR.-In case of the death or removal of the collector, or the expiration of his term of office from any other cause, said record shall be delivered to his successor in office.

(f) COPY AS EVIDENCE. A copy of every such record, certified by the collector, shall be evidence in any court of the truth of the facts therein stated.

[For record of redemption, see section 3702 (c).]

Part III-General Provisions

SEC. 3710. SURRENDER OF PROPERTY SUBJECT TO DISTRAINT.

(a) REQUIREMENT.-Any person in possession of property, or rights to property, subject to distraint, upon which a levy has been made, shall, upon demand by the collector or deputy collector making such levy, surrender such property or rights to such collector or deputy, unless such property or right is, at the time of such demand, subject to an attachment or execution under any judicial process.

(b) PENALTY FOR VIOLATION.-Any person who fails or refuses to so surrender any of such property or rights shall be liable in his own person and estate to the United States in a sum equal to the value of the property or rights not so surrendered, but not exceeding the amount of the taxes (including penalties and interest) for the collection of which such levy has been made, together with costs and interest from the date of such levy.

(c) PERSON DEFINED.-The term "person" as used in this section includes an officer or employee of a corporation or a member or employee of a partnership, who as such officer, employee, or member is under a duty to perform the act in respect of which the violation

occurs.

SEC. 3711. PRODUCTION OF BOOKS.

All persons, and officers of companies or corporations, are required, on demand of a collector or deputy collector about to distrain or having distrained on any property, or rights of property, to exhibit all books containing evidence or statements relating to the subject of distraint, or the property or rights of property liable to distraint for the tax due.

SEC. 3712. SALE OF INDIVISIBLE PROPERTY.

When any property liable to distraint for taxes is not divisible, so as to enable the collector by sale of a part thereof to raise the whole amount of the tax, with all costs and charges, the whole of such property shall be sold, and the surplus of the proceeds of the sale, after making allowance for the amount of the tax, interest, penalties, and additions thereto, and for the costs and charges of the distraint and sale, shall be deposited with the Treasurer of the United States as provided in section 3971.

SEC. 3713. DISTRAINT BY COLLECTOR OUTSIDE HIS DISTRICT.

Any collector or deputy collector may, for the collection of taxes imposed upon any person, and committed to him for collection, seize and sell any of the property, real or personal (except property ex

empt from distraint and sale under section 3691), or any right or interest therein, of such person situated in any other collection district within the State in which such officer resides, notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (b) of section 3651; and his proceedings in relation thereto shall have the same effect as if the same were had in his proper collection district.

SEC. 3714. PERIOD OF LIMITATION UPON DISTRAINT.
(a) LENGTH OF PERIOD.-

For period within which distraint may be begun in case of—
Income tax, see sections 276 (c) and 277.

(b) DATE OF BEGINNING DISTRAINT.-In determining the running of any period of limitation in respect of distraint, the distraint shall be held to have been begun

(1) PERSONAL PROPERTY.-In the case of personal property, on the date on which the levy upon such property is made; or

(2) REAL PROPERTY. In the case of real property, on the date on which notice of the time and place of sale is given to the person whose estate it is proposed to sell.

SEC. 3715. SUCCESSIVE SEIZURES.

Whenever any property, personal or real, which is seized and sold by virtue of the foregoing provisions, is not sufficient to satisfy the claim of the United States for which distraint or seizure is made, the collector may, thereafter, and as often as the same may be necessary, proceed to seize and sell in like manner any other property liable to seizure of the person against whom such claim exists, until the amount due from him, together with all expenses, is fully paid.

SEC. 3716. FEES AND CHARGES IN DISTRAINT AND SEIZURE CASES. The Commissioner shall by regulation determine the fees and charges to be allowed in all cases of distraint and other seizures; and shall have power to determine whether any expense incurred in making any distraint or seizure was necessary.

SUBCHAPTER E-SUITS BY UNITED STATES

SEC. 3740. AUTHORIZATION TO COMMENCE SUIT.

No suit for the recovery of taxes, or of any fine, penalty, or forfeiture, shall be commenced unless the Commissioner authorizes or sanctions the proceedings and the Attorney General directs that the suit be commenced.

SEC. 3741. CONTINUANCE.

It shall be lawful for any court in which any suit or criminal proceeding arising under the internal revenue laws may be pending to continue the same at any stage thereof for good cause shown on motion by the district attorney.

SEC. 3743. REGULATIONS.

It shall be the duty of the Commissioner, with the approval of the Secretary, to establish such regulations, not inconsistent with law, for the observance of revenue officers, respecting suits arising under the internal revenue laws in which the United States is a party,

as may be deemed necessary for the just responsibility of those officers and the prompt collection of all revenues and debts due and accruing to the United States under such laws.

SEC. 3744. SUITS FOR TAXES.

Taxes may be sued for and recovered in the name of the United States in any proper form of action, before any district court of the United States, for the district within which the liability to such tax is incurred, or where the party from whom such tax is due resides at the time of the commencement of the said action.

SEC. 3745. SUITS FOR FINES, PENALTIES, AND FORFEITURES.

(a) COLLECTOR'S REPORT TO DISTRICT ATTORNEY.-It shall be the duty of every collector of internal revenue having knowledge of any willful violation of any law of the United States relating to the revenue, within thirty days after coming into possession of such knowledge, to file with the district attorney of the district in which any fine, penalty, or forfeiture may be incurred, a statement of all the facts and circumstances of the case within his knowledge, together with the names of the witnesses, setting forth the provisions of law believed to be so violated on which reliance may be had for condemnation or conviction.

[Section 838 of the Revised Statutes, as amended (28 U. S. C. 486), reads as follows:

"It shall be the duty of every district attorney to whom any collector of customs, or of internal revenue, shall report, according to law, any case in which any fine, penalty, or forfeiture has been incurred in the district of such attorney for the violation of any law of the United States relating to the revenue, to cause the proper proceedings to be commenced and prosecuted without delay, for the fines, penalties, and forfeitures in such case provided, unless, upon inquiry and examination, he shall decide that such proceedings cannot probably be sustained, or that the ends of public justice do not require that such proceedings should be instituted; in which case he shall report the facts in customs cases to the Secretary of the Treasury, and in internal revenue cases to the Commissioner of Internal Revenue for their direction."]

(c) PLAINTIFF, PROCEEDINGS, AND VENUE.-All suits for fines, penalties, and forfeitures, where not otherwise provided for, shall be brought in the name of the United States, in any proper form of action, or by any appropriate form of proceeding, qui tam or otherwise, before any district court of the United States for the district. within which said fine, penalty, or forfeiture may have been incurred, or before any other court of competent jurisdiction.

(d) COSTS.-In case of any suit for penalties or forfeitures brought upon information received from any person, other than a collector, deputy collector, revenue agent, or inspector, the United States shall not be subject to any costs of suit.

SEC. 3746. SUITS FOR RECOVERY OF ERRONEOUS REFUNDS.

(a) REFUNDS AFTER LIMITATION PERIOD.-Any portion of an internal revenue tax (or any interest, penalty, additional amount, or addition to such tax) refund of which is erroneously made, within the meaning of section 3774, may be recovered by suit brought in the name of the United States, but only if such suit is begun within two years after the making of such refund.