Posted on 10/25/2014 3:35:38 PM PDT by Libloather
ARNOLDS PARK, Iowa — For almost 40 years, Carole Hinders has dished out Mexican specialties at her modest cash-only restaurant. For just as long, she deposited the earnings at a small bank branch a block away — until last year, when two tax agents knocked on her door and informed her that they had seized her funds, almost $33,000.
The Internal Revenue Service agents did not accuse Ms. Hinders of money laundering or cheating on her taxes — in fact, she has not been charged with any crime. Instead, the money was seized solely because she had deposited less than $10,000 at a time, which they viewed as an attempt to avoid triggering a required government report.
“How can this happen?” Ms. Hinders said in a recent interview. “Who takes your money before they prove that you’ve done anything wrong with it?”
The federal government does.
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
IRS = Gestapo
There are legitimate reasons for depositing less than 10,000 dollars.
The bank may be liable for not telling their client it had to file a SAR report.
She could recover damages.
Many federal employees no longer consider themselves “public servants” as they consider that status “beneath” them. They consider themselves overlords high above the peasants they “rule”.
You can take it to the bank that the federal employees who seize the most money (whether from real perps or just any old citizen who they can “profile” enough to “justify” their seizures) will be the ones receiving bonuses and promotions.
“And it does sound like she is guilty - and stupid enough to admit it:”
Did we read the same article? From what I can tell this woman is “guilty” of running a business and depositing her proceeds in the bank.
The USA is no longer a free country.
Her money is “guilty.”
She’s in the clear. Civil forfeiture laws have been abused for years.
Its innocent middle class people now losing their life savings not mobsters or drug lords who have made profits off their crime.
And its all perfectly legal.
Well, the law is that if you deposit more than $10,000 into different accounts on the same day, and at least one of those deposits was less than $10,000, the bank is required to notify the feds. Don’t blame the bank for this.
There is a crime called “structuring” in which criminals deposit less than the threshold to avoid the reporting requirement.
But as I pointed out, people legitimately do deposit less than $10,000 for perfectly legitimate reasons and neither the law or the IRS policy takes note of it.
The problem once the government seizes your money, the burden of proof falls on you to show it was not illicitly acquired or used to fund criminal activity.
You always need to hire a lawyer in a civil forfeiture proceeding but unless the sum involved is substantial, its generally not worth the bother fighting the government over it.
“...The I.R.S. is one of several federal agencies that pursue such cases and then refer them to the Justice Department. The Justice Department does not track the total number of cases pursued, the amount of money seized or how many of the cases were related to other crimes, said Peter Carr, a spokesman....”
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If anyone does not believe Eric Holder’s (In)Justice Department does not have detailed case counts and detailed data on money seized, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell them.
“Well, the law is that if you deposit more than $10,000 into different accounts on the same day, and at least one of those deposits was less than $10,000, the bank is required to notify the feds. Don’t blame the bank for this.”
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Did you read the linked story? The situation you describe is NOT relevant with any of the individual cases mentioned in the story. These agencies are seizing much of this money simply to use it for their own purposes.
saved to forward to my liberal uncle who thinks we do not live in an autocracy
It seems to be part of a deliberate attempt to chase cash out of the marketplace except for the smallest transactions - if she used debit and credit cards, then the IRS probably wouldn’t have bothered with it.
DISMANTLE the IRS.
Approaching 18 trillion.
The CRS (Citizens Revenue Service) should send Barry and CONgre$$ the bill. Even when they lose their jobs, the debt is still owed. Send the notice and start with the harassing phone calls until they pay up. CRS can confiscate all assets from them and their spouses. Prison after that. Death panel after that.
Socialism Is Legal Plunder - Bastiat
BIG GOVERNMENT IS CRONY SOCIALISM
Here in Maine, our conservative governor, Paul LePage, is running for re-election.
The rats are running an ad on TV against him saying, amongst other things, that “he called the IRS the Gestapo!”
I always yell back at the TV, “They ARE the Gestapo!”
/JBT
They’re fighting a War on Drugs! So what if they murder a few innocent people here and there? So what if they destroy peoples livelyhood? So what if they murder childrens pets in front of them! It’s a War!.....BUTTT..... Don’t kill no Muslims.
Well, I’m pushing the big Seven-O, so the most time I could serve would be less than 20 years (and actuarially much less), no matter what crime I committed.
I’m afraid I would treat someone (and their family) who stole 30K from me with extreme prejudice.
Looks like she admits to having taken steps that her mother suggested to keep individual deposits under $10k each. That’s structuring, it’s a bigger crime than money laundering, and with her comments, really easy to prove.
As a fed prosecutor said one time in my hearing, ‘We like the technical violations. They are easy to prove.’
Yes, but so "the bank avoids paperwork" isn't one of them. And, as she's found out, the bank didn't avoid paperwork.
Depositing less than 10k is a crime. Depositing more than 10k is a crime.
But it is conditionally illegal. It is only illegal when they decide it is. The capricious and arbitrary application of law is one of the fundamental features of fascism.
Yeah, we're screwed.
See, the reason the government prosecutes thieves is that they are getting sick and tired of the competition.
Yes, I did read the story.
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