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House Ways and Means Republicans asks Yellen to address growing concerns around IRS reporting requirement
The House Ways and Means Committee Republicans yesterday wrote to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen expressing privacy concerns associated with the proposed IRS reporting requirement legislation and requesting more information from Treasury.
In the letter, the Committee outlined their opposition against the proposal saying they are “skeptical of the need for this dangerous expansion of IRS oversight into the daily lives of Americans.”
The authors also raised several questions directed at Yellen and the Administration on the proposal:
- Can you confirm that the Administration is no longer proposing to collect any transaction-level data on personal and business bank accounts?
- Can you confirm that the Administration will not seek transaction-level data on personal and business bank accounts in the future, including through future legislative proposals or through current or future regulatory authority?
- Please identify which segment of the tax gap the bank surveillance data is intended to close and whether farmers and small businesses will be targeted using this information.
- If they will be targeted, what percentage of the revenue collected from the bank surveillance information is expected to come from farmers and small businesses?
- Does the IRS have a plan for effectively utilizing information received from bank surveillance as a means to increase compliance in the absence of transaction-level data and an increase in the de minimis threshold above $600? If so, please provide us with that plan.
- Is the IRS capable of safely utilizing any new bank surveillance data given data security and individual privacy concerns?
- Has the Treasury Department conducted an analysis of the impact on its revenue estimates for the bank surveillance proposal if the de minimis threshold is raised to $10,000 or higher? If so, please provide us with that information.
- Has the Administration evaluated alternative bases of authority to implement the bank surveillance scheme in the absence of proposed legislation, including existing law or regulatory authority?
NAFCU awaits the responses from Yellen and continues its advocacy efforts to ensure this proposal is excluded from the Build Back Better Act. As part of those efforts, NAFCU Vice President of Legislative Affairs Brad Thaler wrote to Congressman Drew Ferguson expressing NAFCU’s support for his newly introduced bill, the Prohibiting IRS Financial Surveillance Act. The association continues to urge Congress to reject this proposal and calls on consumers to express their opposition against this burdensome reporting requirement.