Government Archive

It looks like Congress made a New Year’s Resolution of its own: getting its homework done on time! Congress appears to have reached a tentative deal to keep the government open and fund it through Sept. 30. This is in stark contrast to the last two times (October and November of last year) in which a last-minute extension was passed with little notice and less than a day to spare. So, the question is: what changed?

The Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2020 (AMLA) established the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA), which requires FinCEN to establish and maintain a national registry of beneficial owners of entities that are considered to be reporting companies. Information collected pursuant to the CTA will be stored in a private database, according to the American Bar Association (ABA). Enacted in 2021 but taking effect on January 1 of this year, the CTA intends to combat illicit activity including tax fraud, money laundering and financing for terrorism by capturing more ownership information for specific U….

It is unclear what Chairman Sherrod Brown hoped to achieve when he convened a hearing with the eight CEOs of the largest banking institutions in the U.S. on Wednesday, Dec. 6. What he got wasn’t hard to predict—a well-choreographed lobbying campaign against the proposed Basel III ‘Endgame’ regulations that are set to be finalized next year. While Chairman Brown and a few Democrats tried to defend the new regulations, the coordinated attack from sympathetic Republican Senators was echoed by every single CEO testifying and dominated Wednesday’s hearing.

It feels a bit like déjà vu, as we are just over a week away from another potential government shutdown on Nov. 17 with no real solution in sight. Despite this, the political tea leaves in DC are pointing towards a relatively painless resolution, at least for a few months. To understand why, here’s a recap of the historic search for a new Speaker of the House last October.

What a week. The Republican-led House continues to demonstrate that it isn’t afraid to flip the table as it attempts to redefine “business as usual” in the House. First, a recap of the shutdown showdown.

Escheatment is a legal process by which unclaimed or abandoned assets, typically financial assets like bank accounts, uncashed checks, or securities, are transferred to the government. This occurs when the rightful owner of the property or funds cannot be located or identified after a specified period, known as the dormancy period. The account or property can be reclaimed if someone emerges with a legal claim, but reclamation is generally subject to a statute of limitations. Statutes not only vary by state, but by property type with costs that continue to increase.

With Congress racing towards a government shutdown on Oct.1—an outcome that is looking more and more likely—let’s look at the three most recent shutdowns and what you can expect this time around.

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation Department issued a notice of attention to a notable increase in state and federal payroll tax evasion and workers’ compensation insurance fraud in the residential and commercial real estate construction industries.