IRS Reporting Requirements: We Urgently Need You to Keep Up Contacts to Congress

Our fight against new IRS reporting requirements is proving tougher by the day, but we urge you to keep fighting!

Here's the latest:

• Virginia's credit unions account for 5,000 emails/letters to Congress on this issue (of 600,000-plus nationwide). Thank you for that, but please continue to ask staff, officials and members to reach out to members of Congress. Anyone can use the Grassroots Action Center to contact lawmakers. Visit https://www.cuna.org/advocacy/actions/grassroot-action-center.html.
• Phone calls are helpful, as well! You can use these numbers to reach your member of Congress. CeJae Vtipilson, VACUL’s grassroots coordinator, can assist with direct outreach. Reach him at (800) 768-3344, ext. 1602 or cvtipilson@vacul.org
  
  Talking points for this issue are available on the Grassroots Action Center or below.
  • Sen. Mark Warner - (202) 224-2023
  • Sen. Tim Kaine - (202) 224-4024
  • Rep. Rob Wittman (R-1st) - (202) 225-4261
  • Rep. Elaine Luria (D-2nd) - (202) 225-4215
  • Rep. Bobby Scott (D-3rd) - (202) 225-8351
  • Rep. Don McEachin (D-4th) - (202) 225-6365
  • Rep. Bob Good (R-5th) - (202) 225-4711
  • Rep. Ben Cline (R-6th) - (202) 225-5431
  • Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-7th) - (202) 225-2815
  • Rep. Don Beyer (D-8th) - (202) 225-4376
  • Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-9th) - (202) 225-3861
  • Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-10th) - (202) 225-5136
  • Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-11th) - (202) 225-1492
• Your League is preparing a letter to Treasury to address the misinformation found in Treasury's "FACT SHEET" on the proposal. League President/CEO Carrie Hunt notes the importance of "correcting the record," particularly Treasury's argument that the reporting regime under consideration would be simple to enact and virtually cost-free for financial institutions, and that the technology requirements wouldn't represent a burden for FIs.
• Your League has reached out to a core processor for information on just how onerous this proposal might prove from a reporting standpoint and just how many members' information might a given credit union be required to report to the IRS.
• Your League continues outreach efforts to our Congressional delegation. Additionally, League President/CEO Carrie Hunt yesterday signed on to a letter with CUNA and our fellow Leagues expressing our grave concerns with the proposal, particularly the fact the proposal -- even at a $10,000 threshold -- will capture almost every American in an IRS information dragnet. What's more, the proposal represents a threat to the ability of the unbanked, underbanked and financially vulnerable households to access mainstream financial services.
   
• Your League continues to express its strong support for legislation that would protect Americans' financial privacy, including S. 2953, H.R. 5451 and H.R. 5586.
• To date, we've also secured the support of Reps. Wittman, Good, Cline and Griffith -- with all having signed on to various letters opposing the IRS reporting requirements.
• You've likely seen news reports that the administration and Senate Democrats are proposing to raise the threshold to accounts with more than $10,000 in annual transactions, and any income received through a paycheck from which federal taxes are automatically deducted will not be subject to the reporting. Recipients of federal benefits like unemployment and Social Security would also be exempt. We continue to argue that the proposal at any threshold is flawed. What's more, the Treasury will have broad authority to write rules and regulations to implement these reporting requirements. What they've proposed and what the final regulation might look like could be worlds apart. Details are also worryingly thin on exactly how this data will be accessed and utilized.
• Thank you for your efforts to date! We knew this would prove a tough fight, but we also know you're up to the task!

Talking points: Opposition to IRS Reporting Provisions

• Credit union members (constituents) oppose the plan to share their private financial information.
• The proposal is so broad that nearly every account held by a credit union or bank will be subject to reporting.
• Gross inflows and outflows of accounts cannot reliably be used by the IRS as indications of taxable income.
• Financial institutions will face unnecessary and expensive data reprogramming and compliance costs particularly burdensome to smaller credit unions.
• Consumers’ personal privacy and data security will be at risk to system breaches.  The proposal will undermine consumers’ trust in financial institutions to maintain the privacy of their account data.
• Raising the de minimis threshold for reporting will not solve any objection noted above.
• We support the intent of the Administration’s infrastructure investment policies, but this pay-for is fundamentally flawed.