Regulation and compliance

This is normally the time of year when the federal government is collecting taxes due, but the devastating coronavirus now has the U.S. trying to rapidly dole out hundreds of billions of dollars in aid and tax breaks to businesses large and small.

These direct payments are intended to provide direct assistance to American taxpayers who have lost wages, jobs or opportunities because of COVID-19. But there is some fine print.

The U.S. Treasury is talking to digital payments providers about quick ways to disburse funds to recipients of stimulus checks within a couple of weeks, but payments industry experts foresee troubling security issues even with most of the obvious options.

The agency proposed changes in December to how customer relationships affect the definition of brokered funds, which has big implications for banks that are not well capitalized.

Mastercard has increased the contactless payment limit to CA$250 across Canada to provide consumers with a safer way to pay during the coronavirus pandemic.

Ask the average business owner if they have a tax shelter and they’d probably have a chuckle while wistfully thinking about how nice it would be to swim in crystal clear waters while their offshore bank accounts grew, unencumbered by state and federal taxes.

Some of the most contested pieces of the 2017 tax overhaul are being revisited as the White House and Congress begin to discuss another round of economic stimulus, including restoring the break for entertaining business clients and lifting the cap on state and local deductions.

If Capitol Hill plans another round of stimulus, Democrats could have more leverage to demand steps such as suspending overdraft fees or placing a temporary cap on consumer lending rates.

The agency said lenders should avoid reporting delinquent payments to credit bureaus for consumers who have sought payment relief due to the pandemic.

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria said a virus-induced financial crisis might give rise to more delinquencies and foreclosures than the 2007 subprime mortgage meltdown.

Interchange fees are a major part of the costs merchants pay to accept payment cards. While merchants seek relief from fees during a time in which their businesses face serious damage from stay-at-home edicts because of coronavirus, the credit card companies and banks quickly began to dig in their heels.

The ICBA chief’s plea for a six-month halt to regulations not related to the pandemic followed similar calls by community groups and a key Senate Democrat.

So far there have been over 200 COVID-19-related disclosures, according to Diver by Lumesis, a financial technology company.

The regulation established standards for investors who own less than a quarter of an institution. Banks are getting more time for implementation as they focus on effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With coronavirus driving more merchants to promote electronic payments over cash — and contactless payments over cards — many are still asking their customers to share a potentially virus-laden pen to sign a receipt or screen at the point of sale.

The 2008 package proved some banks were too big to fail. But the rushed $2.2 billion stimulus shows now any company can be bailed out.

The agency has relaxed some reporting requirements and joined other regulators in encouraging banks to help borrowers, but pressure is building on the bureau to do more to aid consumers suffering financial hardship.

With coronavirus presenting significant challenges for retailers and the technical challenges of imposing interchange fee changes in the networks, Visa, Mastercard, American Express and Discover are holding off on the updates.

The Internal Revenue Service is postponing the date for filing gift tax and generation-skipping transfer tax returns and making payments until July 15 because of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

President Donald Trump said he wants to restore corporate tax deductions for business meals as restaurants reel from the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.