ITG News 

Keeping First Nations Informed 

Great Plains Edition 

Publication 4267C 

Catalog Number 37830C 

July 2007 

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In This Issue 

Message from the Director 

Consultation Meeting Scheduled for Oklahoma City 

Updating Your Mailing Address for IRS Notices 

Improving Bank Secrecy Act Compliance 

IRS/SSA Reconciliation 

Assess Your Own Level of Federal Tax Compliance 

North Central States’ ITG Manager Retiring 

New Web-Based Workshop Helps Tax Exempt Organizations 

FinCEN Delays Implementation of Revised SAR Forms 

New CTRC Filing Requirements 

Tax Calendar of Events 

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Message from the Director 

Our last issue of ITG News highlighted some of the results from our 2006 

Customer Satisfaction Survey, and outlined some areas where ITG would be 

taking steps to effect operational changes. Several of those areas focused on 

communications, and specifically the challenges presented by the movement of 

personnel, offices, and evolving communication technology. 

There is an old saying that “there is nothing as constant as change”. The world 

around us changes so quickly that it is often difficult to keep pace. We utilize 

technology such as cell telephones, laptop computers, and the worldwide web, to 

communicate and attempt to stay abreast of changing events. However, change 

is not limited to technology; it also includes changes in personnel and personal 

relationships. All of us experience transitions in staffing. Key employees move 

into other positions, retire, or resign. Tribal enterprises and the IRS office of 

Indian Tribal Governments are not immune from those changes. 

Recognizing this, in conjunction with feedback from the 2006 survey, has led ITG 

to implement several actions designed to improve the way we interact. These 

include: 

ITG has created a listing on the ITG web site landing page of each tribe and their 

assigned ITG Specialist and telephone number. This listing will be refreshed 

every time a change is made in personnel or in telephone numbers. 
ITG has created a back-up telephone number (202-283-9800) to reach an ITG 

employee in the event that a tribe’s assigned ITG Specialist is not available. We 

will guarantee a return telephone call within 24 hours. 

ITG will be disseminating information on reporting changes in tribal personnel or 

contact points to the IRS. For example, page 2 of this edition of ITG News 

contains an article on reporting address changes. 

We will be continuing to seek opportunities to improve communications. I 

welcome your ideas, whether through future Customer Satisfaction Surveys, 

Consultation Listening meetings, or via e-mail to me at christie.jacobs@irs.gov. 

 

Christie Jacobs 

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Consultation Listening Meeting Scheduled for Oklahoma City 

In accordance with the Consultation procedures utilized by the Internal Revenue 

Service, ITG holds Consultation Listening meetings on a rotating basis 

throughout Indian country. The meetings are open to any tribal representatives, 

and provide an opportunity to surface concerns, ask questions, provide input and 

suggestions to ITG, and dialogue with other tribal representatives concerning 

federal tax issues. Our objective is to hold a meeting within each of the 12 BIA 

regions at least once every three years. 

Our next meeting has been scheduled for Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on 

Thursday August 2nd. The meeting will be held from 1:00-4:00pm at: 

Embassy Suites 

1815 South Meridian Avenue 

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73108 

In order that we can adequately plan for the meeting, we ask that those wishing 

to attend register for the meeting through a link on our web site at 

www.irs.gov/tribes.

We plan to hold four meetings next year— in Alaska, the Pacific Northwest, 

Montana, and Phoenix. The specific dates, times, and locations for those 

meetings will be announced on our web site, and via direct mailings to the tribes 

in those areas. 

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Who Receives Your Letters from the IRS? Is this the Correct Person? 
If not, has this caused delays in responding, and created unnecessary penalties 

or assessments? Here is how to correct the situation: 

Form 8822 is used to make the appropriate changes. Part II of the form is used 

to change your business mailing address. Enter the returns that the change is 

being made for on line 8 or 9. Enter your business name on line 11a and your 

Employer Identification number on line 11b. Enter the old mailing address on line 

12. The “in care of” (c/o) information should be entered on line 13 with the name 

of the person who should be receiving IRS correspondence. The business 

location information is entered on line 14. 

 

An owner, officer, or representative must sign the form. An officer is the 

president, vice-president, chairman, vice-chairman, chief accounting officer, 

community service coordinator, office specialist, comptroller, etc. 

File the form with the appropriate IRS Service Center as listed on the instruction 

page of form 8822. The form is available online at http://www.irs.gov/pub/irspdf/f8822.pdf. 

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Improving Bank Secrecy Act Compliance 

IRS continues to work closely with tribal entities to assess their Bank Secrecy Act 

(BSA) Compliance programs, in an effort to ensure they have the tools and 

resources necessary to meet federal regulations. Our work includes 

Outreach/Education for affected tribal employees, BSA Compliance Checks to 

help identify material weaknesses, and examinations to identify compliance 

failures. The office of Indian Tribal Governments (ITG) undertakes 

Outreach/Education and BSA Compliance Checks, while dedicated staff from our 

Small Business/Self Employed Division conducts BSA examinations on all 

entities. 

ITG’s work in this regard has identified many significant problems in tribal entity 

BSA compliance, including: 

Written BSA Compliance Plans do not exist or are superficial 

No experienced BSA Compliance Officer 

No ongoing training of affected entity staff 

Extreme reluctance to file Suspicious Activity Reports 

Little or no testing to validate BSA procedures are being followed 

The BSA examination staff completed 13 examinations of tribal casinos during 

the initial six months of this year, and 12 of them resulted in determinations that 

material violations of Bank Secrecy Act regulations had occurred. 
These findings show that improvements in BSA compliance are a major issue 

that tribes face, and ITG stands ready to assist them in determining changes that 

may be required. However, tribal entities must first recognize that improvements 

may be required, and then must be willing to work with ITG to implement those 

changes. 

If you have questions regarding the Bank Secrecy Act, or have an interest in 

determining where compliance improvements could be made, please contact 

your assigned ITG Specialist. 

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IRS/SSA Reconciliation 

Have you received a letter from Social Security concerning a discrepancy 

between the wages you reported to Social Security and the wages you reported 

to the Internal Revenue Service? Did you know that you can submit the missing 

W-2s electronically, regardless of how you filed originally? To learn more about 

electronic filing using SSA’s Business Services Online, go to 

www.socialsecurity.gov/employer. For additional information on the 

reconciliation process, go to www.socialsecurity.gov/employer/recon/recon.htm. 

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Employee Tip Income Program Questions 

ITG has a full-time Tip Coordinator to assist you with any questions about tip 

reporting agreements. If you are interested in securing a Tip Agreement, have 

questions concerning your existing agreement, or have received a notice about 

tip reporting responsibilities that is unclear, please contact Suzanne Perry at 

(602) 207-8254. 

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Assess Your Own Level of Federal Tax Compliance 

ITG continues to offer a self-assessment program where qualifying tribal entities 

can perform their own Compliance Checks. In order to qualify, the tribal entity 

must be current in the filing of all required federal tax returns, and must have fully 

paid all federal tax liabilities. They are then able to apply to perform a “selfCompliance Check”, by submitting a request through the “Enhancing Federal Tax 

Compliance” link on the landing page of the ITG web site at www.irs.gov/tribes, 

or by notifying ITG in response to a contact we might initiate. 

A special template with fill-in-the blank responses is utilized in conjunction with a 

special web page with linkages to reference material that will assist tribes in both 

understanding the process, as well as in completing their own Compliance 

Check. 
As part of this process, tribal entities performing their own Compliance Check 

have the opportunity to effect any corrective actions. An ITG Specialist assists in 

that process, and will mitigate any penalties wherever possible. For example, if a 

tribal entity discovered during a self-Compliance Check that they had not filed 

required Forms 1099, the entity could make a self correction without risk of 

penalty. 

There are several advantages that a tribe can realize through this process. 

Among them are: 

Existing tribal finance staff might gain added insights into key federal tax 

 administration issues that impact their positions and the tribal entity. 

A new tribal finance officer could utilize a self assessment to establish a baseline 

of current federal tax compliance. It would improve their knowledge of the tax 

issues within the specific entity, and allow them to remedy any problems that 

might pre-date their assumption of tax responsibilities. 

A tribal entity might identify a potential area of noncompliance that they wish to 

surface to ITG and remedy with minimal risk or cost. 

This initiative empowers tribes to self-assess federal tax compliance and effect 

improvements. We look to further participation by tribal entities who believe they 

might benefit. 

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Reporting Abuses/Schemes 

We continue to work with tribes and tribal officials to address financial abuses 

and schemes being promoted in Indian Country. Working together can help 

ensure the integrity of tribal finances, and eliminate the threats posed by 

individuals with schemes that appear “too good to be true” and often are. If you 

are aware of financial impropriety, or of a promoter advocating a scheme that 

appears highly suspect, you can contact the ITG Abuse Detection and 

Prevention Team at (716) 686-4960, or via e-mail at: tege.itg.schemes@irs.gov 

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North Central States ITG Manager Retiring 

John Walters of Fargo, ND, will be leaving IRS and heading for retirement on 

August 3, 2007. He will leave Serina Halverson of Omaha, acting in his absence 

until a permanent replacement is chosen. John has been with IRS since May of 

1973, and has worked with Indian Tribal Governments for the last seven years. 

He has no immediate work plans, but will likely be involved with several projects 

of his own choosing. 
John plans to continue to live in Fargo for now and will be spending a lot of time 

around the house working on his “Honey Do” list. He also plans to spend some 

time traveling to visit friends and relatives in Kansas, Texas, the Dakotas, and 

Yellowstone. He is looking for that great fishing spot for himself and the 

grandchildren, and says work will not be in his vocabulary for a while. 

John wishes all of you the best and thanks everyone for their help over the years. 

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New Web-based Workshop Helps Tax Exempt Organizations Meet Their 

Compliance Responsibilities 

The Internal Revenue Service has launched a new, free Web-based version of its 

popular Exempt Organizations Workshop. The online tutorial covers tax 

compliance issues which one million small and mid-sized organizations exempt 

from federal income tax under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3) face. 

The online workshop - Stay Exempt—Tax Basics for 501(c)(3)s - consists of live 

interactive modules on tax compliance topics for exempt organizations: 

Tax-Exempt Status - How can you keep your 504(c)(3) exempt? 

Unrelated Business Income - Does your organization generate taxable income? 

Form 990 - Would you like to file an error-free return? 

Employment Issues - How should you treat your workers for tax purposes? 

Required Disclosures - To whom do you have to show your records? 

Each training module contains learning objective as well as interactive exercises 

to keep the sessions lively. Users will also find dozens of links to IRS forms and 

publications that provide details about the topics in the modules. Users can 

complete the modules in any order and repeat them as many times as they like. 

Online workshop - Stay Exempt—Tax Basics for 502(c)(3)s at 

http://www.stayexempt.org 

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FinCEN Delays Implementation of Revised Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) 

Forms 

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced the delayed 

implementation of certain revised Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) forms that 

were scheduled to become effective on June 30, 2007. The agency is 

withdrawing this effective date for the revised SAR forms for depository 

institutions, casinos and card clubs, insurance companies, and the securities and 

futures industries. FinCEN will establish new effective and mandatory 

compliance dates for these revised forms in a future notice. The delay does not 

impact ongoing suspicious activity reporting, which will continue using the current 
forms. 

This announcement does not affect the BSA filing requirements, and financial 

institutions should continue filing using the current SAR forms. The delay of the 

SAR forms for depository institutions, casinos and card clubs, insurance 

companies, and the securities and futures industries does not alter the effective 

date of the revised forms for money services businesses, which became effective 

on March 31, 2007 and will become mandatory on October 1, 2007. 

FinCEN has alerted BSA data users, such as the law enforcement community 

and regulators, of the data protocol issues and is providing information on the 

actions that have been taken to address them. As FinCEN and the IRS continue 

to pursue their data-quality management objective, they will advise database 

users of pending adjustments to ensure that the system retains its superior 

investigatory value. 

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Slot Machine and Video Lottery Terminal Jackpots Excluded from CTR Filing 

Requirements 

On June 21, 2007, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued 

a new rule that exempts casinos from the requirement to file currency 

transactions reports (CTRs) on jackpots from slot machines and video lottery 

terminals. The rule also exempts reportable transactions in currency, under 

certain conditions, involving certain money plays and bills inserted into electronic 

gaming devices. This final regulation, which amends Bank Secrecy Act 

regulations, does not change the regulation requiring casinos to report all other 

transactions in currency of more than $10,000. 

The casino industry sought relief from this reporting requirement relating to 

jackpots from slot machines and video lottery terminals because these particular 

jackpots make up a significant percentage of CTRs filed by casinos, but present 

a low risk of money laundering. FinCEN accepted that customers who win more 

than $10,000 in jackpots will have won those funds because of the workings of 

the random number generator in electronic gaming devices and, thus, are not 

likely to form part of a scheme to launder funds through casinos. 

If you have any questions relating to this change, please contact your designated 

ITG Specialist. 

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Federal Tax Calendar for Third Quarter 2007 

 

July 2007 

Thursday, July 5 – *make a deposit for 6/27-6/29 

Monday, July 9 -*make a deposit for 6/30-7/3 
Tuesday, July 10 - Employees report June tip income to employers if $20 or 

more 

Wednesday, July 11 - *make a deposit for 7/4-7/6 

Friday, July 13 - *make a deposit for 7/7-7/10 

Monday, July 16 - **make a deposit for June if under the monthly deposit rule 

Wednesday, July 18 - *make a deposit for 7/11-7/13 

Friday, July 20 - *make a deposit for 7/14-7/17 

Wednesday, July 25 - *make a deposit for 7/18-7/20 

Friday, July 27 - *make a deposit for 7/21-7/24 

August 2007 

Wednesday, August 1 - *make a deposit for 7/25-7/27 

Friday, August 3 - *make a deposit for 7/28-7/31 

Wednesday, August 8 - *make a deposit for 8/1-83 

Friday, August 10 - *make a deposit for 8/4-8/7 – Employees report July tip 

income if $20 or more 

Wednesday, August 15 - *make a deposit for 8/8-8/10 -- **make a deposit for 

July if under the monthly deposit rule 

Friday, August 17 - *make a deposit for 8/11-8/14 

Wednesday, August 22 - *make a deposit for 8/15-8/17 

Friday, August 24 - *make a deposit for 8/18-8/21 

Wednesday, August 29 - *make a deposit for 8/22-8/24 

Friday, August 31 - *make a deposit for 8/25-8/28 

September 2007 

Thursday, September 6 - *make a deposit for 8/29-8/31 

Friday, September 7 - *make a deposit for 9/1-9/4 

Monday, September 10 - Employees report August tip income to employers if 

$20 or more 

Wednesday, September 12 - *make a deposit for 9/5- 9/7 

Friday, September 14 - *make a deposit for 9/8-9/11 

Monday, September 17 - **make a deposit for August if under the monthly 

deposit rule 

Wednesday, September 19 - *make a deposit for 9/12-9/14 

Friday, September 21 - *make a deposit for 9/15-9/18 

Wednesday, September 26 - *make a deposit for 9/19-9/21 

Friday, September 28 - *make a deposit for 9/22-9/25 

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Return Filing Dates 

 

July 2nd 

File Form 730 and pay the tax on applicable wagers accepted during May. 
File Form 11-C to register and pay the annual tax if you are in the business of 

taking wagers 

July 31st 

File Form 941 for the 2nd quarter of 2007. If all deposits paid on time and in full, 

file by August 10th. 

File Form 730 and pay the tax on applicable wagers accepted during June. 

August 31st 

File Form 730 and pay the tax on applicable wagers accepted during July. 

October 1st 

File Form 730 and pay the tax on applicable wagers accepted during August.