WASHINGTON — Edward Yingling, president and CEO of the AmericanBankers Association has weighed in with his most recent offering inthe ongoing tit-for-tat exchange of letters over whether to taxcredit unions.

In an August 13 letter to Kevin Brown, acting commissioner ofthe Internal Revenue Service, Yingling took issue with CUNAPresident/CEO Dan Mica's recent letter to the U.S. Treasuryreaffirming that position that CUs should not be taxed. Yinglingcountered Mica by suggesting that CUs were now involved in “newactivities beyond their mission” that merit taxation.

“This year alone, the IRS has issued at least twelve technicaladvice memorandums [sic] (TAMs) which take the position that theunrelated business income tax applies to various services andproducts provided by state-chartered credit unions,” Yinglingwrote, adding, “including, among others, income from insurancesales (e.g. credit life, disability life health, group life andaccidental death and dismemberment), sale of car warranties, andATM fees for non-member services. The real issue here is not thatIRS applied UBIT to these activities but whether UBIT should beapplied on similar activities of federally-chartered creditunions,” Yingling wrote.