NEW IRS FORM: SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY TARGETED.

A new form for reporting suspicious financial activities
to the IRS could unfairly target minorities and low-income
families who need cash advances or other money services
they can't get from banks.

Zullie Franco, coordinator of the Low Income Taxpayer
Clinic of Nevada Legal Services, said she worries that
Hispanics could suffer "the consequences of terrorism"
as a result of the new reports.

Franco said illegal immigrants, regardless of their
nationality, often work to send money to their native
countries and probably have no idea information they
supply for the exchange could be reported to the
government.

And civil libertarians have criticized the new form,
saying it opens the doors to profiling and other abuses
by people not trained in law enforcement.

IRS officials say that's not the case.  They say that
they need the forms to counter serious criminal activity.
Agency spokesman Bill Brunson acknowledged money
service businesses are most heavily used by minorities, with
Hispanics, Russians, Asians and those from Arab nations
being the most frequent users.

But, he said, "we're not looking at this as an immigration
issue. This information is used to track unlawful uses of
money such as for the purchase of drugs or money laundering."

The new form, known as the 90-22.56 or Suspicious Activity
Report by Money Services Business, is a product of the
Patriot Act. The act went into effect shortly after the
terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Now, money service businesses other than banks are
required to provide the IRS detailed reports about money
exchanges of $2,000 or more. The forms also offer
businesses guidelines in case they wish to report
suspicious transactions that might not reach the
$2,000 threshold. Banks report suspicious activity
as well but have their own forms for doing so.

The reports ask for serial numbers of money orders and
travelers checks as well as other customer information,
including occupations, Social Security numbers, bank
account numbers and vehicle license plate numbers.

The form also instructs the business to submit descriptions
of the conduct that raised suspicion and to try to obtain
an explanation of the transaction from the customer.
Businesses are asked to indicate whether the customer
is a foreign national and to provide any available
information from the person's passport, visa or other
identification document.

The form also asks the business whether the transfer of
money was to or from a foreign country or whether any
exchanges of foreign currency were involved.

The new form, Brunson said, will help track money that
flows through the more than 200,000 businesses -- including
convenience stores, grocery stores, and pawnshops -- that
provide money transfers, money orders, travelers checks
or other financial transactions as a secondary part of
their business.

Although the new forms have been available since October,
they are only now being required in the place of the old
bank form.

Lynn Thomas, who operates the Pack and Mail Mailing
Center near the intersection of Bonanza Road and Eastern
Avenue, said the new forms are about the same as the old
ones, except they allow business owners to more liberally
report suspicious activities.

Thomas said the new form allows business owners to report
just about any transaction they feel might be suspicious.
That's a point she sees as having positives and negatives.

"It's good for business because it keeps bad people out
of my business if they know I have to report everything,"
she said. "But it's basically like they (the IRS) want
us to be a spy and tip them off and let them know who's
doing what. They say that's patriotic, but I feel it's
just part of my job in keeping good records."

The forms that business owners submit to the IRS are sent
to a computing center in Detroit and are added to a
nationwide database. The database is shared by the IRS,
the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Agency, Secret Service and
U.S. Customs.

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