The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized by statute to share any forfeited currency, sale proceeds, or property with the foreign country that participated in the seizure or forfeiture, if such transfer:

The Office of Inspector General, US Department of Agriculture (OIG/USDA), the Department of Justice (DOJ), the US Postal Service, and the Department of the Treasury entered into a Memorandum of Understanding to establish the participation of OIG/USDA in the DOJ Asset Forfeiture Program and DOJ Asset Forfeiture Fund for forfeitures after May 5, 1998. As a participant in the DOJ Asset Forfeiture Fund, OIG/USDA is eligible to file for equitable shares that correspond to their degree of participation in law enforcement efforts resulting in forfeitures by Treasury law enforcement agencies. In addition, OIG/USDA is allowed, by statute, to file petitions for remission for 100 percent of the proceeds of the forfeited assets as a victim.

To prevent a situation of duplicate filing for equitable sharing and a petition for remission by OIG/USDA, which results in a loss to the Treasury Forfeiture Fund, the Warrants and Forfeitures Section should be consulted on how to proceed when a field office is working with OIG/USDA in a joint investigation that involves forfeiture where CI is the seizing agency, and anticipates that OIG/USDA will file for equitable sharing.

The Director, Warrants and Forfeitures, may transfer for official use, personal property valued at $25,000 or less to an agency that did not participate in the seizure or forfeiture upon request by memorandum from the Special Agent in Charge (SAC) (See Exhibit 9.7.9–1). A request for transfer of property valued at more than $25,000 will be submitted by memorandum from the SAC to the Director, Treasury Executive Office for Asset Forfeiture (TEOAF), through the Warrants and Forfeitures Section (see Exhibit 9.7.9–2).

If the requesting agency is not a Treasury law enforcement agency, they shall pay costs incurred by the Treasury Forfeiture Fund in connection with the forfeiture and transfer of any property.

Joint investigations are those in which Treasury law enforcement agencies work with other Federal, state, or local law enforcement agencies, or foreign countries, to enforce Federal criminal laws.

Adoptive seizures are only those seizures where 100 percent of the pre-seizure activity was performed by the seizing agency. Seizures resulting from joint investigations or task force investigations are not adoptive seizures. State and local agencies generally request Federal adoption when, after making a seizure, they determine that a state forfeiture proceeding is not possible or that a Federal forfeiture proceeding would be more advantageous.

There must be a state violation and a Federal basis for forfeiture in order for the seizure to be classified as an adoption.

The TEOAF Directive Number 34, Policy Limiting the Federal Adoption of Seizures by State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies, sets general policies and procedures with respect to adoptions and covers the federal adoption form, Request for Adoption of State or Local Seizure (Exhibit 9.7.2–1), Federal investigative agency review and approval, time period to request an adoption, notice requirements, and retention of custody by state or local agency. Directive Number 34 is summarized as follows: Federal adoption of state and local seizures is prohibited except for property that directly relates to public safety concerns, including firearms, ammunition, explosives, the instrumentalities of child pornography, adulterated food products, counterfeit consumer goods and similar items that pose a public health and safety concern. The prohibition on federal adoption includes, but is not limited to, seizures by state or local law enforcement of vehicles, valuables, and cash. Cash is defined as currency and currency equivalents, such as postal money orders, personal and cashier’s checks, stored value cards, certificates of deposit, traveler’s checks, and U.S. savings bonds. Any other property that may trigger the public safety exception may be adopted federally with the Director of TEOAF’s approval sent through the Director of Warrants & Forfeiture. Equitable sharing is prohibited in any federal adoption. This does not impact joint investigations and does not apply under the following circumstances:

In the rare instance of an adoption of seized property that raises a public safety concern, CI will continue to follow the procedures set forth in IRM 9.7.2.7.3(5), which requires a legal review of the adoption by a Criminal Tax (CT) attorney and that a seizure warrant be obtained prior to taking custody of any assets seized by a state or local agency.

In any instance where CI wishes to adopt a state or local seizure of property that it believes implicates public safety but is NOT listed in the previous paragraph (3), approval must be obtained by the Director of TEOAF through the Director of Warrants & Forfeiture prior to taking possession using the following process: 1) SAC prepared memo to Director of TEOAF, through Director of Warrants & Forfeiture; 2) TEOAF will provide a written decision on the adoption request which will be routed to the SAC by Warrants & Forfeiture and notice to all interested parties will be executed by IRS-CI. The prepared memorandum for the Director of TEOAF must contain the following information:

By statute, notice in an adoptive seizure must be sent not more than 90 days after the date of seizure by the state or local law enforcement agency. Criminal Investigation should seek local review of the adoption by CT Counsel and a Law and Fact Memorandum. The request for adoption should be made within 30 days from the date the property was seized by the state or local law enforcement agency.

After the seizure in a joint investigation, a Federal, state, or local agency may request a share of the property by submitting a Form TD F 92–22.46, Request for Transfer of Property Seized/Forfeited by a Treasury Agency, to CI. Exhibit 9.7.9–3 contains Form TD F 92–22.46 and supplemental instructions.

A separate Form TD F 92–22.46 must be completed for each seizure; assets should not be grouped on one form. When multiple assets are seized, one Form TD F 92–22.46 may be filed with an attached listing of all the assets seized. See Exhibit 9.7.9-3, Form TD F 92–22.46, and supplemental instructions.

The Form TD F 92–22.46 and the Department of Justice equitable sharing Form DAG-71 are virtually identical. The requesting law enforcement agency(ies) must make their requests to the department whose seizing agency completed the forfeiture.

The Secretary of the Treasury, pursuant to statutory authority, may share forfeited currency or proceeds with countries that participated directly or indirectly in any acts that led to the seizure or forfeiture, if the sharing:

The Director, Treasury Executive Office for Asset Forfeiture (TEOAF) makes the ultimate decision whether and how much to share after review and approval by the Department of State. No United States representative has the statutory authority to commit to asset sharing in any given case until an international forfeiture sharing agreement has been approved at the delegated levels of the Department of the Treasury (or Justice) and State.

A foreign country may request a share of the property by contacting the US Embassy or country attache′ via a letter of request. The embassy should forward the letter of request to the appropriate field office.

Equitable sharing requests should be submitted within 60 days after the date of seizure. The 60–day rule may be waived by the Director, Warrants and Forfeitures, upon a written request stating the reasons that justify a waiver for the late submission of the equitable sharing request. The request for a waiver must accompany the Form TD F 92–22.46.

The date of seizure is generally the date the property is physically seized and taken into custody by CI. This is also true for criminal forfeitures where property is not seized until the court enters a preliminary order of forfeiture. In the case of a civil judicial forfeiture involving real property or other property not seized until a final judgment or order of forfeiture is entered, the date of seizure is the "post and walk" date or the date the warrants of arrest in rem are executed.

For property that is seized as evidence, the date of seizure for forfeiture is generally the evidence seizure date or the initial date when action is taken to commence forfeiture proceedings against the property.

In civil or criminal judicial forfeitures, an agency may amend its Form TD F 92–22.46 within 60 days after forfeiture to reflect any continued participation in the case.

No equitable sharing request will be considered after two years from the date the forfeited property is disbursed, deposited into the Treasury Forfeiture Fund, or otherwise disposed of.

A lack of adequate communication between Treasury law enforcement agencies and the requesting agencies often leads to ill will and confusion of the equitable sharing process. In order to remedy this situation, TEOAF developed sample letters that are used to keep requesting agencies advised of the status of their equitable sharing request, while providing them with a contact name and telephone number of an agency representative who can furnish them with timely information regarding their equitable sharing requests. These letters are contained in TEOAF Directive Number 16, Equitable Sharing-Acknowledgments and Advice on Sharing Requests. Warrants and Forfeitures will send these letters to the requesting agencies after the equitable sharing requests are submitted for Headquarters/CI approval.

Forfeiture, like all legal proceedings, takes time. Equitable sharing may occur only after the Federal forfeiture has been completed, the United States has taken clear title to the property, and a final sharing decision has been made by the appropriate official. Common causes of delay are listed in the Guide.

In cases where only a single item of tangible property (e.g., a vehicle) is forfeited and a Federal, state or local agency, or foreign country requests that item rather than proceeds from the sale of the property, the Treasury Forfeiture Fund must recover its costs and its equitable share. If the requesting agency is unable to pay the costs and equitable share, the property shall be sold and the proceeds equitably distributed according to the formula in the previous paragraph. Exceptions to this requirement will be conservatively granted by Warrants and Forfeitures upon written assurances that:

Where real or tangible personal property is transferred to a state or local law enforcement agency, the value of that property shall be charged against that agency's equitable share or other assets in the investigation. Where there are insufficient other assets against which to charge that share, the recipient state or local law enforcement agency must compensate the Treasury Forfeiture Fund for the Federal share and costs.

If the requesting agency is unable to pay the costs of the Federal share, the property shall be sold and the proceeds equitably distributed. The Director, Warrants and Forfeitures may grant exceptions when:

Federal law mandates that sharing in joint investigations reflects the degree of direct participation of the requesting agency in the law enforcement effort resulting in the forfeiture. Normally, this is determined by comparing the number of investigative hours expended by the requesting agencies. The hours worked include all hours worked by investigators or professional analysts and technicians through the completion of the forfeiture directly attributed to the forfeiture action. Secretarial and support staff time may not be used in an agency's determination of investigative hours. The final determination of sharing percentages will not be done until after the property has been forfeited and all of the participating agency's total contributions to the seizure/forfeiture have been determined.

The following additional factors will be considered where the hours devoted do not adequately reflect the degree of participation of the requesting agency:

For examples of situations that may apply to the questions listed above, refer to the Guide.

Many task forces involving Federal, state, and local law enforcement have pre-agreed equitable sharing arrangements based upon relative numbers of personnel and other contributions to the task force operation. These pre-agreed percentages will be honored when:

Refer to the Guide for more information regarding a formal chartered task force, multi-agency cases, and task force agreements.

Sharing in adoptive seizures is prohibited.

The authority to approve equitable sharing of assets forfeited in a single forfeiture proceeding where the appraised value of the assets is less than $1,000,000 has been delegated to the Director, Warrants and Forfeitures. Exceptions are those involving foreign sharing windfall situations or the transfer of real property, which requires approval from the Director, TEOAF.

Where the forfeited assets are valued at $1,000,000 or more, and in all cases involving the transfer of real property, the Director, TEOAF, must approve the amount of the equitable share.

The Assistant United States Attorney (AUSA) will be offered the opportunity for input before final sharing decisions are made when the forfeiture is a civil judicial or criminal forfeiture.

All forfeiture cases involving foreign equitable sharing requests must be approved by the Director, TEOAF, and the Department of State.

The funds due the Treasury Forfeiture Fund from reverse asset sharing are important to the overall management and effectiveness of the fund. In order for the Treasury Forfeiture Fund to effectively monitor reverse asset sharing and achieve successful financial management of reverse asset sharing, TEOAF issued Directive Number 21, Policy for the Filing of DAG-71 for Reverse Asset Sharing.

It is the responsibility of CI, and other Treasury law enforcement agencies, to file a request for an equitable share of forfeited property resulting from investigations in which CI participated with DOJ law enforcement agencies.

Reverse asset sharing requests (Forms DAG-71) must be submitted to the DOJ seizing agency within 60 calendar days of the seizure. The 60-day rule can be waived only upon a written request provided to the DOJ seizing agency, stating the reasons for the late submission of the request and/or providing justification for the waiver. In those circumstances where CI's principal contribution occurs after the seizure, but during the period of time in which the forfeiture is being perfected, it would be appropriate to request a waiver to the 60-day rule or to amend a previous request. Failure to adhere to these rules may result in delayed or lost shares to the Treasury Forfeiture Fund.

CI, and other Treasury law enforcement agencies, must report the filing of Forms DAG-71 within 60 days of the date of seizure by sending a copy of the Form DAG-71, by mail or facsimile, to:

The SAC must approve seizure investigative activities through CIMIS for any investigation where CI participates in the seizure and forfeiture activity with a DOJ law enforcement agency, and all reverse asset sharing requests must be reported on the Asset Forfeiture Tracking and Retrieval System (AFTRAK). See IRM 9.7.5, Forms, Processing, and Documentation.

The AFC should use AFTRAK to monitor open reverse asset sharing requests. In some instances, the seizing agency may issue a letter notifying CI of the status of the sharing request. However, in most instances, no notification is received. It is the responsibility of the AFC to periodically obtain a status update by contacting the seizing agency.

If CI is denied the ability to apply for equitable sharing by a DOJ law enforcement agency, or fails to receive an equitable share in return for their participation, the responsible Supervisory Special Agent (SSA) or SAC are encouraged to attempt resolution at the field office level. If resolution cannot be achieved, the issue should be forwarded to TEOAF, through the Warrants and Forfeitures Section, for resolution at the Treasury/Justice level.

Tangible property received from a Federal agency through reverse asset sharing may be placed into official use in accordance with CI guidelines. Forfeited cash and proceeds from the sale of forfeited property must be deposited to the Treasury Forfeiture Fund.

Reverse asset sharing checks must be forwarded immediately to TEOAF with a completed Form #6, Deposit Information (Exhibit 9.7.9-5), and a copy of the related Form(s) DAG-71.