|
|
 
Agency Budget Summary
Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service
I. Resource Summary
II. Methodology
- The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) drug control budget contains two components: Criminal Investigation (CI) and Currency Reporting Forms Processing.
- IRS-CI dedicates 23 - 25 percent of its Direct Investigative Time to the investigation and prosecution of Drug and Drug Money Laundering Organizations.
- The following activities within Currency Reporting Forms Processing are considered drug-related: IRS resources expended to process the Currency Reporting Forms required by the Bank Secrecy Act (Title 31), namely, Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs) and Casino Currency Transaction Reports (C-CTRs), Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs), and Foreign Bank Account Reports (FBARs) as well as Form 8300, Cash Payments in Excess of $10,000 Received in a Trade or Business, required by the Internal Revenue Code (Title 26). The forms are processed for reporting Banks, Financial Institutions, and Money Services Businesses as well as retail businesses. This program activity is reported in a separate account in the IRS's budget activities and is scored as 100 percent drug-related, supporting Goals 2 and 5 of the Strategy.
III. Program Summary
- The mission of the IRS-CI in federal law enforcement's anti-drug efforts is to utilize the financial expertise of its agents to identify and impede the transfer of illegal proceeds generated by the manufacture and distribution of illegal drugs. The mission focuses on the disruption and dismantling of the country's major domestic and international narcotics and narcotics money laundering organizations through investigation, prosecution, and asset forfeiture proceedings. Prosecutions involve the criminal statutes contained in the Internal Revenue Service Code (Title 26); the Bank Secrecy Act (Title 31); and the Money Laundering Control Act (Title 18).
- The IRS-CI promulgated an international strategy which placed special agents in strategic foreign posts to facilitate the development and use of information obtained in host nations in support of criminal investigations. The international strategy provides for direct foreign source support to the investigations over which IRS-CI has investigative jurisdiction.
- The IRS-CI accomplishes its mission through the investigation of criminal violations under its jurisdiction through its two program areas, the Fraud Program and the Narcotics Program. The Narcotics Program supports the Strategy through continued support to joint agency task forces including the Interagency Crime Drug Enforcement (ICDE) and the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), through the use of asset forfeiture, through assistance in developing money laundering and asset forfeiture legislation, and through international training and assistance programs.
IV. Budget Summary
1999 Program
- The FY 1999 program provides $72.8 million and 870 FTE.
Goal 2: Increase the safety of America's citizens by substantially reducing drug-related crime and violence.
- Of the total counternarcotics funding received by the IRS, $40.9 million supports IRS-CI's effort in the investigation and prosecution of drug organizations, including domestic money laundering organizations. Through resources applied to the Narcotics Program, IRS-CI supports joint agency task forces including ICDE and HIDTA, and sponsors and assists in covert money laundering initiatives to identify, disrupt, and dismantle the systems and criminal organizations that launder narcotics proceeds.
Goal 5: Break foreign and domestic drug sources of supply.
- In FY 1999, the IRS will fund $31.9 million for Goal 5 activities.
- The IRS-CI strategy in counterdrug activities is to prevent the smuggling of narcotics into the United States by reducing the profit motive to criminal organizations. Goals and objectives are accomplished in three primary ways: (a) through the prosecution of high level criminalorganization members for income tax violations, Bank Secrecy Act violations, and money laundering violations; (b) through the appropriate use of asset forfeiture legislation; and (c) through international training and assistance programs.
- In addition to the placement of Special Agents in overseas Posts of Duty, the IRS-CI places Special Agents in the intelligence community served by Interpol. The IRS and its Attaches provide assistance to foreign governments relating to the establishment and/or enhancement of money laundering, criminal tax, and asset forfeiture law. They also assist foreign governments in the development of, and improvement to, the exchange of information agreements.
2000 Request
- The IRS is requesting a total of $74.6 million in FY 2000, an increase of $1.8 million over the FY 1999 funding level. No new initiatives are associated with these resources.
V. Program Accomplishments
- In FY 1998, the IRS-CI:
- initiated 1,549 narcotics-related investigations,
- recommended prosecution on 1,225 narcotics-related investigations,
- achieved a narcotics-related conviction rate of 87 percent,
- applied 23.7 percent of Direct Investigative Time to the Narcotics Program, and
- realized $44.4 million in forfeited narcotics-related assets.
- Numerous foreign governments worldwide have requested IRS-CI training in financial investigative techniques and assistance in developing money laundering and asset forfeiture legislation. One of IRS-CI's proudest international accomplishments in FY 1998 was the training provided to the government of Trinidad and Tobago. Training and mentoring sessions by IRS-CI agents for the government of Trinidad and Tobago led to that country's first money laundering indictment. The support consisted of experienced financial investigators serving as mentors who provided the financial experience base to task force members. According to newspaper accounts, this was the first money laundering investigation brought by Trinidad and Tobago, the first involving money laundering of another trafficker's funds, and the first involving a defense attorney as a defendant for money laundering in the Caribbean.
|
