FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

September 23, 2021

Senator Sounds Alarm on Banking Transactions Reporting Proposal, Supports Legislation to Reign in IRS Overreach

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR) is fighting back against the Biden administration’s campaign to expand the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) surveillance of taxpayers’ bank accounts and further erode Americans’ privacy.

The White House has proposed altering banking account reporting requirements as part of its reckless spending and tax bill in order to fund its partisan agenda.

In a column published in The Hill, Boozman warned of the additional threat to the security of personal information if this policy is enacted.

“Given the IRS’s track record on data security, including a 2015 data breach, tasking the agency to secure additional taxpayer information from nearly every American is a complicated and hazardous gamble, and one the federal government isn’t historically capable of winning,” he wrote.

The president’s plan would require all financial institutions to report to the IRS deposits and withdrawals of $600 or more from business and personal accounts maintained by federally regulated banking services. The current reporting requirement is for transactions of $10,000 or higher.

Imposing this mandate on banks and credit unions would burden small, community financial institutions with additional unnecessary compliance costs that would potentially get passed along to customers.

Boozman also took action to block this overreach by recently joining U.S. Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-ID) in introducing the Tax Gap Reform and Internal Revenue Service Enforcement Act, bicameral legislation that safeguards taxpayers against IRS targeting and abuse.

“Big Brother is at it again. The president’s push to drastically expand monitoring of individuals’ finances and enlist more IRS agents to execute it is cause for alarm. Implementing protections that block IRS overreach is a necessary step to ensuring taxpayer privacy and preventing the agency from targeting Americans’ savings and income to fund Democrats’ partisan agenda,” Boozman said.

Arkansans have expressed their opposition to the Biden administration’s proposed changes to IRS reporting requirements. 

State Treasurer Dennis Milligan called the recommendation a burden on the middle-class and small businesses “in the name of trying to catch tax evaders.”

President and CEO of the Arkansas Bankers Association, Lorrie Trogden, said the plan “will really hit our Arkansas community banks the hardest.”