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Internal Revenue Service seized bank accounts of innocent business owners

Reports of law biding citizens having their bank account seized by the Internal Revenue Service because they deposited amounts less than $10,000 in their bank accounts. Some conspiracy theorists are blaming a new law enacted by an executive order by President Obama.

iRumorMill.com Determination: Real but not an Executive Order

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) can seize bank accounts, not because of a crime being committed but because deposits of cash less than $10,0000 at a time were made to an account was enough to alert them of suspicious activity. This according to a October 25, 2014 article by the New York Times that said, "Using a law designed to catch drug traffickers, racketeers and terrorists by tracking their cash, the government has gone after run-of-the-mill business owners and wage earners without so much as an allegation that they have committed serious crimes. The government can take the money without ever filing a criminal complaint, and the owners are left to prove they are innocent. Many give up."

The article said, "There is nothing illegal about depositing less than $10,000 cash unless it is done specifically to evade the reporting requirement. But often a mere bank statement is enough for investigators to obtain a seizure warrant. In one Long Island case, the police submitted almost a year’s worth of daily deposits by a business, ranging from $5,550 to $9,910. The officer wrote in his warrant affidavit that based on his training and experience, the pattern 'is consistent with structuring.' The government seized $447,000 from the business, a cash-intensive candy and cigarette distributor that has been run by one family for 27 years."

The law is not new, nor was it enacted by the stroke of a pen by Barack Obama. According to information posted on the website of the IRS, "Congress passed the Bank Secrecy Act in 1970 as the first laws to fight money laundering in the United States." The law requires the reporting of deposits exceeding $10,000 from a single business transaction. A business that repeatedly deposits sums below that threshold may raise a flag at the IRS that they are avoiding the paperwork.

Posted 10/29/14