Ryan Donovan, CUNA's chief advocacy officer, said Hatch has been conducting traditional oversight that committee chairmen conduct. He added, however, that requiring federal credit unions to file Form 990s would pose a significant regulatory burden on credit unions.

Hatch had raised the issue of compensation with NCUA Chairman J. Mark McWatters in his letter to the chairman. The GAO in 2006 recommended that federal credit unions be required to provide more information about compensation.

McWatters told Hatch that the NCUA examines compensation when evaluating credit unions and would raise a red flag if it affected the safety and soundness of credit unions.

In his letter to Kautter, Berger said he would oppose any plan to require greater transparency for only certain credit unions.

“We strongly oppose Senator Hatch's recommendation to bifurcate credit unions based on an arbitrary asset-size and add to their regulatory burden as such action would not be in the best interest of American consumers,” he said.

Berger added that federal credit unions already are highly regulated, adding that requiring credit unions to file IRS informational returns would simply increase their regulatory burden.

John McKechnie, senior partner at Total Spectrum, said he saw a connection with the timing of the Hatch letters and the fact that the American Bankers Association is holding its government relations summit in Washington this week.

“Chairman Hatch clearly wants to ratchet up the credit union tax issue, particularly as he prepares to retire, particularly as the ABA comes to town for their annual Capitol Hill fly-in,” he said.

And he added, “If Chairman Hatch is interested in increased transparency for financial institutions, I strongly suggest he ask IRS to obtain more information from Subchapter S banks, particularly how much income is being passed through to their shareholders. Consumers deserve to know about the tax-free haul that these wealthy individuals are receiving. Fair is fair.”