WASHINGTON—House Financial Services Committee Member Rep. Tom Emmer (R-MN) and 201 members of Congress wrote to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen expressing concerns associated with the proposed threshold increase from $600 to $10,000 or higher for IRS reporting requirements.
In the letter, the Congressional Members outlined their opposition against the proposal, calling Treasury’s response “out-of-touch […] with the grave and sincere concerns that millions of Americans have with this idea.”
“The impact that these new reporting requirements will have on tens if not hundreds of millions of unsuspecting Americans cannot be emphasized enough,” wrote the Members of Congress. “Arbitrarily increasing the threshold to $10,000, as most recently proposed, will still apply to individuals at every rung of the income ladder.”
The letter noted multiple concerns with the proposal: including Treasury’s lack of addressing privacy protections for Americans, likely sowing “further distrust” in the American financial system, as well as these requirements becoming an additional burden for all financial institutions who already have to report a large amount of data to the IRS, NAFCU noted.
‘Abandon This Proposal’
“In light of our continuing concerns, and your inability to adequately address them, we ask you to abandon this proposal and encourage congressional Democrats to do the same,” concluded the group. “We must protect Americans and our financial system, not make them the victim of government overreach in the name of raising revenue.”