Not trying to come across like some big shot or millionaire or anything, because I am not...but have a serious question that I am sure has been asked many times on this forum but I cannot find it in any searches. I did Google it and read up on some things including the IRS website itself, but it is still unclear to me. In regards to bank deposits greater than 10k...anything to be concerned about with making a deposit larger than this? Let's use a easy round number...let's say 25k...sounds like it may be bad idea to make five 5k deposits also? Can anyone shed some KNOWLEDGEABLE light on the topic?
It depends on a ton of factors. Who you are (if you make $ then you are allowed to have $)
Where the $ came from (if you've got a paper trail then who cares)
Making 5k deposits over a period of time is nothing really, and keep the rest in a safety deposit box in the meantime.
I know that answer is subjective but it really does depend who the person is. If you're dealing coke or selling widgets makes a difference.
Where the $ came from (if you've got a paper trail then who cares)
Making 5k deposits over a period of time is nothing really, and keep the rest in a safety deposit box in the meantime.
I know that answer is subjective but it really does depend who the person is. If you're dealing coke or selling widgets makes a difference.
If the funds are from illegal activity, then yes, you should be concerned.
Note: that bank employees are encouraged to file SARs too. So if you don't own a business and make a series of $5,000 deposits in say 10 days, you're going to get flagged.
It depends on the source of money. But generally speaking, no, it won't be ok.
“Structuring,” as readers may recall, is the federal criminal offense of splitting up bank deposits so as to keep them under a threshold such as $10,000 above which banks have to report transactions to the government. Structuring is unlawful whether or not it occurs in conjunction with any other legal offense, as opposed to being motivated by, say, a desire to keep a low profile in general or a sentiment that the government already keeps tabs on too many innocent activities. Nor is there any requirement that the person be aware that there is a law banning structuring; someone who gets wind that transactions over $10,000 are reportable, and decides “What’s up with that? I’ll just make $9,000 deposits”), has broken the Bank Secrecy Act. Indeed, the federal government instructs banks to report suspicious patterns of sub-threshold deposits, and not to warn customers that it is doing so.
So who can engage in structuring and get by with it? Well, it might have a bit to do with who you are:
* On the one hand, as Courtney Mabeus reports in today’s edition of the Frederick News-Post, federal prosecutors yesterday filed a six-page complaint against dairy farmers Randy and Karen Sowers, who own the successful South Mountain Creamery in Middletown, Md. On February 29 Treasury officials showed up at their farm to question them about bank deposits; 45 minutes into that interview, according to the Sowerses, they learned that the federal government had just seized their bank account and the $70,000 in it. The family does a lot of business at farmer’s markets and its cash receipts over a ten-month period exceeded $320,000, the feds say. The News-Post account includes no mention of the family being under suspicion of any offenses other than what U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein describes as follows: “The holding back of cash receipts in excess of $10,000 indicates a knowledge of the Currency Transaction Reporting requirement and an attempt to evade it.” The couple is now speaking out about their plight to a wider public; they have hired attorney David Watt, though how they intend to pay him given the seizure of their bank account is not clear from the article. (Update Apr. 21: see also Apr. 18 coverage in Baltimore City Paper; & welcome Radley Balkoreaders)
* On the other hand, if you are former New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, you might not find the federal structuring laws so intimidating. Spitzer had good reason to be intimately familiar with the bank reports system since he had relied on its output in conducting white-collar investigations, and he was “smurfing” deposits in furtherance of conduct that was itself illegal, as he knew well, havingcrusaded in favor of longer sentences for “johns” as part of his appeal to New York City feminist and legal-services groups. But as Harvey Silverglate points out, “Spitzer, with the help of a high-powered legal team, was able to convince the Justice Department’s lawyers to drop the charges.” Now he goes on TV to denounce the federal government’s failure to prosecute persons in high places.
Maybe they’re too busy going after the dairy farmers.
P.S. The Supreme Court, in a majority opinion by Justice Ruth Ginsburg [Ratslaf v. U.S., 1994], admirably “interpreted the ‘willfully’ element for a currency structuring violation under 31 U.S.C. Sec. 5324 to require proof that the defendant knew the structuring was illegal. Congress responded rather promptly to the Court’s holding by dropping willfulness from the statute.
So who can engage in structuring and get by with it? Well, it might have a bit to do with who you are:
* On the one hand, as Courtney Mabeus reports in today’s edition of the Frederick News-Post, federal prosecutors yesterday filed a six-page complaint against dairy farmers Randy and Karen Sowers, who own the successful South Mountain Creamery in Middletown, Md. On February 29 Treasury officials showed up at their farm to question them about bank deposits; 45 minutes into that interview, according to the Sowerses, they learned that the federal government had just seized their bank account and the $70,000 in it. The family does a lot of business at farmer’s markets and its cash receipts over a ten-month period exceeded $320,000, the feds say. The News-Post account includes no mention of the family being under suspicion of any offenses other than what U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein describes as follows: “The holding back of cash receipts in excess of $10,000 indicates a knowledge of the Currency Transaction Reporting requirement and an attempt to evade it.” The couple is now speaking out about their plight to a wider public; they have hired attorney David Watt, though how they intend to pay him given the seizure of their bank account is not clear from the article. (Update Apr. 21: see also Apr. 18 coverage in Baltimore City Paper; & welcome Radley Balkoreaders)
* On the other hand, if you are former New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, you might not find the federal structuring laws so intimidating. Spitzer had good reason to be intimately familiar with the bank reports system since he had relied on its output in conducting white-collar investigations, and he was “smurfing” deposits in furtherance of conduct that was itself illegal, as he knew well, havingcrusaded in favor of longer sentences for “johns” as part of his appeal to New York City feminist and legal-services groups. But as Harvey Silverglate points out, “Spitzer, with the help of a high-powered legal team, was able to convince the Justice Department’s lawyers to drop the charges.” Now he goes on TV to denounce the federal government’s failure to prosecute persons in high places.
Maybe they’re too busy going after the dairy farmers.
P.S. The Supreme Court, in a majority opinion by Justice Ruth Ginsburg [Ratslaf v. U.S., 1994], admirably “interpreted the ‘willfully’ element for a currency structuring violation under 31 U.S.C. Sec. 5324 to require proof that the defendant knew the structuring was illegal. Congress responded rather promptly to the Court’s holding by dropping willfulness from the statute.
I went to law school with someone who today works in a federal prosecutor's office.
Read this until it sinks in: If the source of funds are related to illegal activity, don't bring the money to the bank. No matter the amount.
Again, the answer depends on the source of money. There is no actual "confusion" here at all.
I'd probably spread that over longer than 2 weeks. Something like 2 months, but you should be OK.
I've never really had any problems with stuff like this (and being honest, I've been a little irresponsible in the past with depositing large checks from gambling)
When I say you are allowed to have $, I mean that. If you're a dude with good earnings, then having $ or large transactions isn't really going to raise eyebrows. If you're 23, making $9 an hour and you deposit 7k 3 times in 4 months because you're the college drug dealer then I think it is going to cause more flags.
That's easy.
First, why do you need to bring in anything over a $2,000 to the bank?
Go to a check cashing store (or grocery store) and start buying debit cards. Don't funnel the money into 1 place, keep some cash, and deposit smaller amounts in the bank.
If you need a check for something, you can go to a bank and get a $3,500 cashiers check with cash and nobody will blink an eye.
In fact, go to the bank today and deposit $2,000 and then just wait a few weeks and deposit something under $1,000
