U.S. Treasury amends proposal to track nearly all bank accounts

The U.S. Treasury is amending a plan to track more Americans' bank accounts to limit tax evasion by the wealthy after the proposal garnered severe pushback from the finance industry and conservative politicians.

Under the proposal, first introduced in May, banks would report to the Internal Revenue Service several new pieces of information from U.S. bank account: The total amount of money flowing in and out of an account, with breakdowns for foreign transactions and transfers to the same account holder.

After initially proposing to track bank accounts with more than $600 of inflows or outflows, on the Treasury on Tuesday offered a new threshold. More than $10,000 in transfers in a given year would flag an account for reporting to the IRS, the agency said in a press release. Wage and salary deposits won't count toward that threshold, the Treasury said.