I just received a call from Special Agent with the IRS on a SAR that we filed last summer. He obviously had a copy of the SAR and was wanting information. What information can I give him?

Everything you documented in your investigative file that you used as the basis for filing the SAR became the property of FinCEN when you filed. You are just holding it for them and can share it with law enforcement. Be sure to positively the agent and make a record of what you share.

I take this one step further and require the caller to give me the phone number of the bureau where they work and I call back to confirm they are an agent.

When they pick up the documentation I require a written request on the agencies letterhead and is to be signed by an agent in charge. Then I staple their business card to the signed request letter. I include a list of the documentation that they pick up in my SAR file so there is no question about what was given.

Better safe than sorry and so far no one has objected (to my face) about my requests to cover myself.

I had the same exact situation and this is what transpired for my situation. I had the opportunity to meet with the Compliance Project Manger of FinCen Anthony Harris while attending the Attorney's Compliance Conference last fall. When the IRS agent came back for more information other than what was on the original SAR, I took a stand that any further information not contained in the SAR he already had falls under GLBA. Although you can share the inforamtion with government officials as per the guidelines- just who are "Officials" was my biggest question. I called Anthony's office and I was given a BSA expert to talk to. The request of the IRS agent was to gather more information beyond what the original SAR contained of which it was apparent he had possession of. I had filed a subsequent SAR on the same person but it had just been mailed to Detroit the week before the agent inquired on this subject. The contact at FinCen said that my bank was not responsible for speeding up the FinCen system for this agent to gain more information and that if his office has access to SAR information that he would have to gain access to the additional information through the proper channels on his end. I then checked with my regulator FDIC and they concurred. He has since asked me twice for the follow up information and I have referred him to Detroit for his answers. In this case I would say that both FinCen and FDIC do not consider the IRS official enough for me to bend GLBA for his investigation.

We also had this situation and I also informred our regulators. And as mentioned we got the telphone number and called back to ensure the person was legit. Ours turned out that the requestor was IRS Law Enforcement which she told me was the equivalent to FBI - she carried a gun. We gave her everything with our regulators' legal office's blessing.

she carried a gun.

That's funny.

To make certain others are not misled, in this instance "everything" is limited to the supporting documentation for the orignal SAR. Since the requesting LEA is federal, any disclosures beyond that would be a direct violation of the Right to Financial Privacy Act.

Thanks Ken for that clarification as it gets very tricky. I asked this IRS agent why he jkustdidn't get a suboena-and make it easier. He has not replied nor have I received a subpoena. Additionally there was just a newscast on ABC that reported Federal agents of different departments of the government taking advantage of banks, accountants, etc., to gain information that they had no business getting without a proper subpoena.

Bankers have a right -- I'd call it a duty -- to be indignant about the FBI's admitted abuse of the National Security Letter process. But that's not what this thread is about. It's about access to documents and information used in the filing of a SAR. That information is accessible, without subpoena, by law enforcement personnel. That includes IRS-CID.