Virus Relief Bill Would Lower Settlement Org. Reporting Bar

President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion pandemic rescue plan contains a provision that would lower from $20,000 to $600 the threshold at which a third-party settlement organization would have to report transactions, the Joint Committee on Taxation said Monday.

The American Rescue Plan would lower the threshold below which third-party settlement organizations can escape aggregate transaction reporting obligations, the JCT said in a description of the provision. Current law requires that such organizations furnish returns to people or entities that conduct 200 or more transactions exceeding $20,000 using their platforms. The pandemic relief legislation would lower that bar to $600 for commercial transactions, regardless of the number of transactions conducted, the JCT said.

House lawmakers approved Biden's coronavirus relief plan early Saturday morning.

--Additional reporting by Stephen Cooper. Editing by Vincent Sherry. 

For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.