MARK KOHLERMain Street Professionals, Main Street Professionals, Main Street Professionals, Main Street Professionals, Main Street Professionals, LLC · Owner at Main Street Professionals, LLC

Ignore This New Filing Requirement and You Could Face Prison

11 Mar 2026 · 1 min

Watch on YouTube

1:06

In this YouTube segment, Mark Kohler warns viewers about the severe penalties for failing to comply with a new filing/reporting requirement, likely tied to anti‑money‑laundering regulations. He breaks down the penalty structure into two categories. The negligent level applies when a party claims ignorance of the rule; penalties start at $1,430 per violation and can rise to $111,000. The willful level applies when a party deliberately refuses to file; penalties can be civil (starting at $111,000) or criminal, with criminal fines ranging from $250,000 to $500,000 and imprisonment of 5 to 10 years. Kohler explains that such harsh penalties are intended to deter money‑laundering activities and compel timely reporting.

Chapters

I want to talk about what the penalties are so you know how bad they are and how serious you have to take this. Well, there's different levels of what the penalty might be. And the first one is the negligent category. Some people might say, well, hey, I didn't know what the rule was or the law, so they can't hit me with it. No, they can. That's the negligent level. Now, the amount of the penalty there starts at $1,430 per violation, but it can go up to as high as $111,000. The next one is you willfully say, screw you, government, I'm not going to file this. Now the willful penalty could be civil or criminal, and that's where this $111,000 starts kicking in, a couple hundred thousand dollars in penalties, but the criminal one gets really serious. It starts at $250 grand. It could be as much as $500,000, 5 years in prison, up to 10 years in prison. Now, why such a big stick? Again, you have to know the government, which I know all of us would be behind, is trying to get the bad guys here that are laundering money. So they have to put a big penalty in the mix to try to get everybody attention and get the reporting happening.