IRS offers to return money seized from 700 businesses in 'structuring' casesJun 14, 2016, 2:12pm EDT
More than 700 individuals and small businesses whose assets were seized by the Internal Revenue Service during financial structuring investigations will have a chance to get their money back.
The news came in a letter from IRS Commissioner John Koskinen to Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., and Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga. The two congressmen have led investigations about the agency’s seizure of assets from businesses suspected of structuring cash deposits and withdrawals to avoid the $10,000 threshold that triggers reporting of these transactions to the federal government. This reporting requirement is designed to deter money laundering by criminal enterprises.
In many cases, however, the IRS seized assets without any evidence of wrongdoing by businesses and without first checking with the owners to see if they had a legitimate explanation for making repeated deposits of less than $10,000. The IRS changed its policy in October 2014, saying it would seek court orders to seize assets only in cases where there’s evidence that the structured deposits were derived from illegal activities.
Koskinen’s letter said the IRS will notify over 700 individuals or businesses, whose assets were seized in the five years before the policy change, that they may be entitled to a return of their money. Notices will not be sent in cases that were referred for prosecution or where assets already have been returned.
If they can show their money came from a legal source and there’s no evidence that they engaged in structuring to conceal money laundering, tax evasion or other crimes, these individuals and businesses can get their money back.
“I’m glad to see the IRS finally recognize the need to return the money they stole from innocent Americans,” Roskam said. “It took two years, two hearings, and letters from every Republican and Democratic member of the oversight subcommittee, but we can now see justice on the horizon.”
“The IRS and the Department of Justice must make every effort to do what is right for small business owners who were not engaged in illegal activities but were unintentionally captured by the law,” Lewis said. “We must right this wrong once and for all.”
http://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/washingtonbureau/2016/06/irs-offers-to-return-money-seized-from-700.htmlIRS seizes millions from law-abiding businesses; 3 live to tell House about itBe careful about making too many cash deposits of under $10,000 — the Internal Revenue Service may think you're up to no good and seize your bank account.
That's what happened to three business owners who told their story Wednesday at a House Ways and Means Committee hearing. The IRS suspected each of them of structuring their cash deposits to avoid the $10,000 threshold that triggers reporting of these deposits to the federal government. This reporting requirement is designed to deter money laundering by criminal enterprises.
But there was no evidence of criminal activity by any of these three businesses, and they have reasonable explanations as to why they made deposits of below $10,000. But the IRS obtained warrants from judges to seize their bank accounts without even contacting these businesses first. All three businesses struggled to survive during the months and even years it took to get their money back.
Now they want to make sure that what happened to them won't happen to other businesses.
A convenience store distributor's three-year nightmare
"No American should have to endure the treatment that I received at the hands of the IRS," said Jeffrey Hirsch, owner of Bi-County Distributors Inc., which distributes candy, food, cigarettes and other products to convenience stores on Long Island, N.Y.
Hirsch's nightmare started on March 21, 2012, when a bank teller told him the IRS had seized the $446,651 that was in the company's bank account. The next day Hirsch received a copy of a seizure warrant that accused him and his brothers of manipulating their cash deposits to avoid the $10,000 reporting threshold, a practice known as structuring.
"Prior to reading the warrant, I had never heard of the concept of "structuring" and had no idea that depositing cash in amounts under $10,000 could ever be against the law," Hirsch said.
Convenience-store distribution is a cash-intensive business, and Hirsch said his accountant advised him that he should keep the company's deposits below $10,000 because banks didn't like the paperwork involved with Currency Transaction Reports.
http://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/washingtonbureau/2015/02/irs-seizes-millions-from-law-abiding-businesses-3.html
