After massive pushback from Republican lawmakers, community banks and everyday Americans, the Treasury Department announced Tuesday it has increased the threshold for the IRS to monitor accounts from $600 to $10,000.
“Having this summary information will help flag for the IRS when high-income people under-report their income (and under-pay their tax obligations). This will help the IRS target its enforcement activities on those who are actually evading their tax obligations—decreasing costly and burdensome audits for the vast majority of taxpayers who pay what they owe,” Treasury released in a ‘fact sheet.’ “Under the current proposal, financial accounts with money flowing in and out that totals less than $10,000 annually are not subject to any additional reporting. Further, when computing this threshold, the new, tailored proposal carves out wage and salary earners and federal program beneficiaries, such that only those accruing other forms of income in opaque ways are a part of the reporting regime.”