Good Morning. I would like to thank the Chairman for holding this hearing. I am pleased to have the Commissioner testifying before us today. I appreciate his hard work on behalf of the American people. The Commissioner brings integrity to this key government agency. He is a thoughtful, hard-working, public servant. I would also like to thank the other witnesses for taking the time to be here today.
Under the law, banks are required to report deposits of more than $10,000. As many of you know, taxpayers are barred from structuring their deposits of income earned -- from legal or illegal sources -- in a manner that seems to avoid the reporting requirement. When small businesses appear to structure their deposits to evade bank reporting laws, the government can seize their bank accounts. The press reports on these matters in 2014 brought this important oversight matter to the Subcommittee’s attention.
In response, we held a hearing on this topic last February. In that hearing, we learned how many small businesses were simply making cash deposits from their daily operations. They were not engaged in any illegal activities, but were unintentionally captured by the law. During the hearing, all Subcommittee Members agreed that -- while allowed under the law -- the government should not seize the bank accounts of taxpayers where the cash being deposited was not earned from criminal activities. In October 2014, the Federal government changed its policy and agreed that in the future it will only seize assets where the deposits were earned from illegal sources.
Since the hearing, the Subcommittee Members have written a number of letters requesting updates on the policy change. Together, we asked what can be done for those taxpayers whose assets were seized before the change. I understand that the witnesses on the first panel had their assets seized before the policy change, and both filed petitions to have their assets returned. I look forward to hearing more about their experiences. We must do more to resolve this issue for small businesses. It is the right thing to do; it is the just thing to do.
I hope that we will be successful in securing a timely, fair, and bipartisan resolution of this important matter. Again, I thank the witnesses for being here, and I look forward to their testimony. Thank you.
