Thought some of you might be interested in this article. A link to the IRS Commissioner's remarks is at the bottom of the article.

Common Sense and Structuring

"This revised approach should minimize the impact on financial institutions whose customer accounts are seized without any underlying evidence of illegal activity."


That does not seem like a possibility.

Even if you believe it (and like Ed, I am skeptical), this has alot of the same vibe as the DOJ Cole Memo:

"We're going to make things easier for you. Not because the law has changed but because we're simply nice like that. But we could decide to be less nice at any time..."

I agree with JacFSB, it seems as if several government agencies are reinterpreting how they enforce certain regulations simply because that is easier than getting a law changed. Rules and regulations that mean something one day and then another the next leave little comfort for financial institutions charged with following them.

My point is that the FI would still need to file a SAR for structuring even if the funds are legit. Structuring is an offence that requires a SAR even if there is not intention of LE pursuing the case.

So, he got religion, excuse me, "common sense," but only when he was called before Congress to testify? Taking someone's property without even accusing them of a crime is a violation of the due process clause and morally reprehensible. Yet, that only dawns on the IRS when someone pulls "the stick" out and lets them see it immediately prior to applying it to their head and shoulders.

There is no appreciable burden on financial institutions in a seizure; I have no idea what he's talking about there, perhaps just playing to the grandstand.

Agreed, and it makes one wonder how asset forfeiture as it exists today is even allowed (but that's a topic for another conversation). Nevertheless, the Commissioner isn't even stating that he is backing off of the practice, simply that he's narrowing the scope of it's use.

But with the implications in his speech on reports by banks of structuring being the impetus for these seizures, can we expect this release to prompt a consumer-protection driven push for lawmakers and/or regulatory agencies to reexamine structuring related SARs? The BSA pendulum has swung about as far as it can in its current direction, with more and more banks filing defensively because "you just don't know" what the customer is up to, or because it is easier to file on a large transaction than to ask the customer. Might the backswing begin with this speech?

I don't understand why the IRS simply doesn't issue fines for structuring when they don't find any evidence of an illicit source of funds. Smack the liquor store or pizza parlor with a $5,000 fine for structuring and then see how quickly legitimate businesses stop that nonsense. JMTC

^^ That! And then give us a percentage.