Compliance Blog

Written by Bernadette Clair, Regulatory Compliance Counsel

As of July 1st, e-filing is mandatory for Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) and Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs).  FinCEN issued a final reminder on June 29th and recently blogged about the benefits of e-filing in a July 2nd Treasury Notes blog.  Unless your credit union has received an exemption from FinCEN, be sure these reports are being filed electronically.

Coincidentally, you may have noticed a few glitches in your ability to access the BSA E-Filing System and contact FinCEN over the past week.  FinCEN is aware of the problem and has posted the following notice on its website, along with alternative contact information if you need to reach them with questions:

"Important Notice: FinCEN's BSA E-Filing System is currently experiencing extremely high usage. This may result in intermittent delays in a filer's ability to submit required reports or complete the on-line application process for a new BSA E-Filing System account. We are aware of these intermittent delays and are actively working to resolve them. 

FinCEN also is currently experiencing a significantly higher than normal call volume into our E-Filing Help Desk which is also impacting FinCEN's phone system. This is resulting in extended hold times at the Helpdesk and some FinCEN callers receiving busy signals. We are aware of the problem and are actively working to resolve it.

If you experience problems getting through on the phone, you can provide your specific question or issue with your full contact information (including return phone number) to the respective email addresses below and we will make every effort to respond to your issues in a timely manner.

• For E-File technical questions: BSAEfilinghelp@fincen.gov
  
• For regulatory inquiries related to form completion or selection: BSA_Resource_Center@fincen.gov
• For form completion or selection issues specific to FBAR: fbarquestions@irs.gov
• For law enforcement related matters: liaisonservices@fincen.gov
• 314 Inquiries from Law Enforcement: le314a@fincen.gov
• 314 Inquiries from Financial Institutions: sys314a@fincen.gov
• General FinCEN Inquiries: webmaster@fincen.gov
• For any other matters, you can also send your inquiry to webmaster@fincen.gov"

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