IRS Seized $17 Million In Legally Earned Cash From Business Owners, Watchdog Reports
adUnit = document.getElementById("google-ads-uVt4");
google_ad_client = "ca-pub-1897954795849722";
adUnit = document.getElementById("google-ads-uVt4");
adWidth = adUnit.offsetWidth;
if ( adWidth >= 999999 ) {
/* GETTING THE FIRST IF OUT OF THE WAY */
} else {
google_ad_slot = "0";
adUnit.style.display = "none";
}
By Lily Dane
Police departments aren’t the only ones seizing money from citizens without charging them with a crime: the IRS is in the civil asset forfeiture game too.
In just two years – from 2012 to 2014 – the IRS stole more than $17 million from innocent business owners, deliberately targeting their earnings for an easy steal. Using obscure anti-money laundering rules and civil asset forfeiture, the agency compromised the rights of individuals and their businesses, a government watchdog has discovered.
The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) released a report on March 30 that details how IRS investigators seized hundreds of bank accounts from business owners based on nothing but a suspicious pattern of deposits.
In more than 90 percent of those cases, the money was completely legal. The audit also found that investigators violated internal policies when conducting interviews, failed to notify individuals of their rights, and improperly bargained to resolve civil cases.
From The Washington Post:
To combat criminal activity, individuals and businesses are required to report all bank deposits greater than $10,000 to federal authorities. Intentionally splitting up large sums of cash into sub-$10,000 amounts to avoid that reporting requirement is known as “structuring” and is illegal under the federal Bank Secrecy Act.
But many business owners engaged in perfectly legal activities may be unaware of the law. Others are covered by insurance policies that don’t cover cash losses greater than $10,000. Still others simply want to avoid extra paperwork, and keep their deposits less than $10,000 on the advice of bank employees or colleagues.
googletag.cmd.push(function() { googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1470694951173-5'); });
(deployads = window.deployads || ).push({});