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Legislative Update with Jay Kruse by Jay Kruse, Chief Advocacy Officer Good Morning, Returning to Washington after the long September recess, both the Senate and House are back in session this week as negotiations and markup continues on the Build Back Better Act, including the very intrusive IRS Reporting Proposal. So, as Jeff Olson stated earlier this week in his President’s Perspective, “Put the pedal to the metal – IRS Reporting Proposal is not dead!” The entire Dakota’s congressional delegation is on our side in opposing this proposal; however we cannot say the same about the White House and Senate Democrats. Let’s take a little closer look at the proposal, because as they say, “the devil is in the details.” The White House and Treasury believe this proposal is necessary to not only help pay for the $3.5 trillion price tag the legislation carries, but also to “increase the visibility of gross receipts and deductible expenses to the IRS.” Supporters of this proposal argue that it is a minor change and will pose minimal new requirements on the financial institutions – but this is simply not true. As the proposal reads, “Financial institutions would report data on financial accounts in an information return. The annual return will report gross inflows and outflows with a breakdown for physical cash, transactions with a foreign account, and transfers to and from another account with the same owner.” In reality, this proposal will require the reporting institution to provide EIGHT new boxes of information on this new “information return.” Perhaps one of the most concerning details, buried at the end of the proposal, would also give the Treasury “broad authority” to issue any additional regulations they deem necessary for implementation. We believe this could open the door for them to implement any additional rules down the road without proper oversight. You can read through the full Build Back Better Act including the IRS Reporting Proposal which begins on page 94 here. Dakotans Are Responding – But We Need More! As of last Friday, over 170,000 credit union advocates have already told Congress to oppose this controversial IRS Reporting provision. Here in the Dakotas, we have had more than 9,000 credit union advocates respond, as many Dakota credit unions have engaged their members directly through the Member Activation Program (MAP) resources. This truly is a “moment of truth” issue for credit unions and all financial institutions. We continue to encourage every Dakota credit union to act now and keep the “pedal to the metal” on this important issue. If you’re not subscribed to the MAP program, you can learn more about it and opt in here to share this action alert with your staff and members. If you have any questions about how to best utilize the MAP program, don’t hesitate to contact me. Finally, if you already haven’t done so, please make sure to use our Action Center to send a message. Dakota Senators Taking Action I want to end by sending a huge shout out and “thank you” to our South Dakota Senators Thune and Rounds, as well as Congressman Dusty Johnson, for stepping up in strong opposition of this IRS Reporting Proposal. Senator Thune is currently leading the Republican charge in the Senate and working on a “Dear Colleague” sign-on letter that will be circulated through the Senate. This will be somewhat similar to the Emmers letter that circulated through the House last week. Also, Senator Rounds is a cosponsor, along with ND Senator Cramer, of the Tax Gap Reform and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Enforcement Act, which is bicameral legislation to protect taxpayers against Democrats’ campaign to monitor Americans’ bank accounts, place taxpayer finances in a surveillance dragnet, and provide additional mandatory funding to increase the number of IRS agents. As always, don't hesitate to contact me at jkruse@dakcu.org with any questions or comments.
Legislative Update with Jay Kruse
by Jay Kruse, Chief Advocacy Officer
Good Morning,
Returning to Washington after the long September recess, both the Senate and House are back in session this week as negotiations and markup continues on the Build Back Better Act, including the very intrusive IRS Reporting Proposal. So, as Jeff Olson stated earlier this week in his President’s Perspective, “Put the pedal to the metal – IRS Reporting Proposal is not dead!” The entire Dakota’s congressional delegation is on our side in opposing this proposal; however we cannot say the same about the White House and Senate Democrats.
Let’s take a little closer look at the proposal, because as they say, “the devil is in the details.” The White House and Treasury believe this proposal is necessary to not only help pay for the $3.5 trillion price tag the legislation carries, but also to “increase the visibility of gross receipts and deductible expenses to the IRS.”
Supporters of this proposal argue that it is a minor change and will pose minimal new requirements on the financial institutions – but this is simply not true. As the proposal reads, “Financial institutions would report data on financial accounts in an information return. The annual return will report gross inflows and outflows with a breakdown for physical cash, transactions with a foreign account, and transfers to and from another account with the same owner.” In reality, this proposal will require the reporting institution to provide EIGHT new boxes of information on this new “information return.”
Perhaps one of the most concerning details, buried at the end of the proposal, would also give the Treasury “broad authority” to issue any additional regulations they deem necessary for implementation. We believe this could open the door for them to implement any additional rules down the road without proper oversight.
You can read through the full Build Back Better Act including the IRS Reporting Proposal which begins on page 94 here.
Dakotans Are Responding – But We Need More!
As of last Friday, over 170,000 credit union advocates have already told Congress to oppose this controversial IRS Reporting provision. Here in the Dakotas, we have had more than 9,000 credit union advocates respond, as many Dakota credit unions have engaged their members directly through the Member Activation Program (MAP) resources.
This truly is a “moment of truth” issue for credit unions and all financial institutions. We continue to encourage every Dakota credit union to act now and keep the “pedal to the metal” on this important issue. If you’re not subscribed to the MAP program, you can learn more about it and opt in here to share this action alert with your staff and members. If you have any questions about how to best utilize the MAP program, don’t hesitate to contact me. Finally, if you already haven’t done so, please make sure to use our Action Center to send a message.
Dakota Senators Taking Action
I want to end by sending a huge shout out and “thank you” to our South Dakota Senators Thune and Rounds, as well as Congressman Dusty Johnson, for stepping up in strong opposition of this IRS Reporting Proposal. Senator Thune is currently leading the Republican charge in the Senate and working on a “Dear Colleague” sign-on letter that will be circulated through the Senate. This will be somewhat similar to the Emmers letter that circulated through the House last week. Also, Senator Rounds is a cosponsor, along with ND Senator Cramer, of the Tax Gap Reform and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Enforcement Act, which is bicameral legislation to protect taxpayers against Democrats’ campaign to monitor Americans’ bank accounts, place taxpayer finances in a surveillance dragnet, and provide additional mandatory funding to increase the number of IRS agents.
As always, don't hesitate to contact me at jkruse@dakcu.org with any questions or comments.