House passes taxpayer protection, IRS transparency bills

The House voted to advance two tax-related bills Wednesday, part of a group of bipartisan bills passed earlier by the House Ways and Means Committee. The bills are designed to protect taxpayers and improve accountability at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The Taxpayer First Act (H.R. 5444) includes several measures designed to protect taxpayers from unfair practices and improve IRS operations. It includes provisions related to suspected or actual “structuring transactions” and their treatment under the Bank Secrecy Act.

H.R. 5444 bill would only allow the IRS to pursue the seizure or forfeiture of assets if either the property to be seized was derived from an illegal source or the transactions were structured to conceal a violation of a criminal law or regulation other than rules against structuring.

 

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