Businesses Connive in Money Laundering, Panel Reports

Congressional investigators said businesses are routinely conniving with customers to circumvent money-laundering laws requiring large cash transactions be reported to the Internal Revenue Service.

“Businesses from across our land are willing to assist others in laundering money and evading taxes for a quick buck,” said Rep. J. J. Pickle (D-Tex.), chairman of a House Ways and Means subcommittee.

Under a 1984 law, businesses are required to report to the IRS all transactions that involve more than $10,000 in cash. The purpose was to help the IRS identify taxpayers with large cash incomes that might otherwise be under-reported.

However, the subcommittee investigators found that car dealers, jewelers, yacht salesmen and others are willing to ignore the law in order to make big cash sales.

“It is shocking that businesses throughout the country are routinely conniving with customers to violate the law,” Pickle said during a hearing Thursday.

The subcommittee investigators reported on their visits to 79 businesses nationwide.