James Tillen comments on the treatment of facilitating payments versus bribes under the FCPA and the tax implications of that difference. Because facilitating payments are lawful under the FCPA, a U.S. exporter making facilitating payments to the foreign inspector could deduct the amount of the payment as a business expense under section 162(a). However, "It's a fine line between what is a lawful facilitating payment and what is bribery under the FCPA," says Tillen. He adds that the amounts of facilitating payments are almost always in the range of $100 or less. Payments that are $1,000 or more "are less likely" to be facilitating payments and more likely to attract the enforcement agencies' scrutiny, he says.