The Internal Revenue Service announced today agreements with 33 states and Puerto Rico to begin sharing Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) information. The agreements will allow the IRS and the participating states to share information and leverage their resources to ensure that money services businesses (MSBs) are complying with their federal and state responsibilities to register with the government and report cash transactions and suspicious activities.
“We already work cooperatively with over 40 states to combat abusive tax shelters,” said IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson. “This new agreement will help the federal and state governments leverage resources while attacking illegal money laundering.”
The IRS and participating states will share enforcement leads and coordinate their efforts to make sure they are doing all the Bank Secrecy Act examinations on MSBs as required by law without overlapping efforts. The agreements will also help the IRS and the states present a united compliance front to MSBs and their representatives.
Along with Puerto Rico, the following states have signed partnership agreements with the IRS: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Montana cannot enter into these agreements with the IRS because either state law prohibits them from doing so or they do not regulate the industry.
The information the IRS and the states may share under these agreements is limited to Bank Secrecy Act examination information, not tax information. The IRS has separate, long-standing agreements with the states for the exchange of tax information.