WASHINGTON—The Defense Credit Union Council said it plans to do everything it can to fight a renewed, reportedly banker-backed push to impose Form 990 filing requirements on federal credit unions.
In a Monday media call, DCUC Chief Advocacy Officer Jason Stverak said the organization will be “very vocal” in opposing a draft letter circulating on Capitol Hill that urges Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to require federal credit unions to file Form 990s.
“Credit unions already provide more information to NCUA than what a Form 990 includes,” Stverak said. “This is nothing more than another attempt to impose regulatory burdens that make it harder for credit unions—especially small ones—to serve their members.”
As CUToday.info reported, the unsigned draft letter calls on Treasury to roll back a 54-year-old exemption that allows federal credit unions to forgo filing Form 990—an annual disclosure required of nearly all other tax-exempt organizations. Its circulation, apparently, marks the latest step in a coordinated, yearlong effort by segments of the banking industry to paint big credit unions as indistinguishable from banks and ultimately position them for taxation. That campaign escalated sharply in 2025 when the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) proposed taxing all credit unions over $1 billion in assets.
Sources on Capitol Hill informed CUToday.info that Republicans Pete Sessions (TX) and Troy Downing (MT), both members of the House Financial Services Committee, support the letter. CUToday.info reached out to both lawmakers Friday morning for comment, and also contacted the ICBA and the American Bankers Association for their responses.