October 7, 2021
State Treasurer Curtis Loftis announced that the State Board of Financial Institutions unanimously adopted a resolution urging members of the South Carolina Congressional delegation to oppose the Biden administration’s efforts to monitor and report private citizens’ banking information to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
In recent weeks, the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury has promoted a legislative requirement that financial institutions annually report to the IRS the total amount of money deposited and withdrawn from banking, loan and investment accounts if they exceed $600.
“I urge our federal delegation to protect the privacy rights of our citizens as well as support the vital role financial institutions play in our communities. The IRS has no business monitoring the bank accounts of our state’s hard-working people,” said Loftis, who serves as chairman of the state board.
Through its resolution, the board members confirmed that these new reporting requirements would “unreasonably, unduly and unnecessarily burden banks and credit unions” operating in the state and would likely cause significant increases in compliance costs for these institutions.
As part of the American Families Plan, the proposal would create a comprehensive financial account information reporting system. Financial institutions would be required to report gross inflows and outflows for the bank, loan and investment accounts of American citizens and businesses. This would impact more than 100 million Americans who currently have a financial account.
The 11-member State Board of Financial Institutions is responsible for the supervision, licensing and examination of all state-chartered banks, savings and loan associations, savings banks, credit unions, trust companies, development corporations, mortgage lenders, mortgage loan originators, consumer finance companies, deferred-presentment companies and regular check-cashing companies.
For more information on the State Board of Financial of Institutions, please visit bofi.sc.gov.