Increased financial institution reporting to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is bad for consumers, Mountain West Credit Union Association President/CEO Scott Earl wrote in  AZCentral over the weekend. Earl commented on proposed language to require additional reporting to the IRS, which CUNA, Leagues, and credit unions strongly oppose.

“The privacy of our members is just one of a multitude of reasons we are opposed to this measure, he wrote. “For financial institutions to comply with this requirement, there would also be significant regulatory burdens added to their operations. This would likely require them to invest in updating software, add and train staff on new procedures, manage complaints regarding the requirement to turn this information over to the government, and take other actions.

“All of this will come at a cost to members and customers,” Earl adds.

CUNA continues to call on credit union advocates to use its Grassroots Action Center to send a message outlining concerns with the proposal. More than 435,000 messages have been sent to Capitol Hill as of Monday morning.

Credit unions can also activate their members to send messages to Capitol Hill through CUNA’s Member Activation Program (MAP) community.