The Internal Revenue Service's Bank Secrecy Act Program Has Minimal Impact on Compliance

The Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement should coordinate with the FinCEN on the authority to assess penalties on Title 31 examinations or consider reprioritizing BSA Program resources for more productive work.

The Deputy Commissioner for Services and Enforcement should leverage the BSA Program's Title 31 examination authority by incorporating its annual examination planning into the IRS's overall virtual currency strategy.

The Commissioner, Small Business/Self-Employed Division, should issue formal guidance to BSA examiners requiring inclusion of Publication 1 and Publication 5264 as enclosures with Letter 2277 when initiating an IRS Form 8300 examination.

The Commissioner, Small Business/Self-Employed Division, should consider having a review of the FinCEN referral process by process experts inside the IRS, such as the Wage and Investment Division's Lean Six Sigma team, to determine whether process improvements can be achieved and whether the new guidelines for FinCEN referrals are reasonable.

The Commissioner, Small Business/Self-Employed Division, should work with CI to review the BSA criminal referral criteria and ensure that written procedures and policies are in place and being followed to maximize efficiency and enhance BSA referrals to CI to prevent unnecessary resources from being expended on referrals that will not be given consideration.