IRS apologizes for seizing bank accounts of small businesses

[WestVirginiaRebel]

My Way News:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pressured by Congress, the IRS said Wednesday it is changing its policies and apologizing for seizing banks accounts from otherwise law-abiding business owners simply because they structured bank transactions to avoid federal reporting requirements.

Their alleged crime: routinely making bank deposits of less than $10,000. That allowed the business owners to avoid reporting requirements designed to catch drug dealers and money launderers.

IRS Commissioner John Koskinen told Congress that the IRS is changing policies to prevent the seizures, as long as the money came from legal means.

"To anyone who is not treated fairly under the code, I apologize," Koskinen told the House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee. "Taxpayers have to be comfortable that they will be treated fairly."

By law, bank transactions above $10,000 must be reported to the IRS. It's a felony, called "structuring," to manage transactions to avoid the reporting requirement, even if the money is legally earned.

In some cases, the IRS seized and held bank accounts for years without bringing charges.

Koskinen said he didn't know how many cases the new policy would affect. He said the IRS seized a total of 147 accounts last year, including those in which the money was illegally obtained.

"On average over the last several years, it's less than 200 cases," Koskinen said. "In 60 percent of those cases, the owner of the asset never shows up, which shows that they obviously had a criminal activity going on."

The Treasury inspector general for tax administration is launching an audit of the IRS's seizure program, said Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., chairman of the Ways and Means oversight subcommittee. It is unclear how long the probe will take.

Roskam said the IRS has too much power to seize assets, even if the agency doesn't have adequate evidence of a crime.

"The IRS doesn't have to give notice to the account-holder before seizing the assets. And the IRS doesn't have to prove that the person is actually guilty of anything — just that the account probably is involved in structuring," Roskam said.

________

 

Guilty until proven innocent...

[Cyber_Liberty]

Wow! An apology from John Koskinen! If you pair that up with five bucks you can buy a grande sized cup of burnt coffee at Starbuck's!

 

(I wonder if he smirked while saying that?)