“Congress Passes Bill To Protect Small-Business Owners from IRS Seizures”

On June 13 “the U.S. Senate unanimously approved legislation that stops the Internal Revenue Service from raiding the bank accounts of small-business owners. The Clyde-Hirsch-Sowers RESPECT Act, passed as part of the Taxpayer First Act (H.R. 3151), is named after Institute for Justice clients Jeff Hirsch and Randy Sowers, two victims of the IRS’s aggressive seizures for so-called ‘structuring.’ Through structuring laws, the IRS has routinely confiscated cash from ordinary Americans simply because they frequently deposited or withdrew cash in amounts under $10,000. And by using civil forfeiture, the IRS can keep that money without ever filing criminal charges.” [Nick Sibilla, Institute for Justice] We’ve covered the problems with structuring law, as well as asset forfeiture, for many years.

One Comment

  • There was one case, a while back, where a supermarket was depositing under $10K one, two or even three times per day. The reason was that the bank was across the street and insurance didn’t cover cash over $10K. Thing is—same day cash deposits are aggregated. So there was no CTR evasion.

    Of course, some government attorney defended this nonsense in open court.