I doubt if the bank cares. But a case could be made by the IRS based upon deposit practices, or at least suspicion could be raised (you deposit $9K each month, but your W-2 income is half of that).
I’m not sure why people get all worked up about reporting, the government doesn’t care about people conducting legal business. They want reporting done for a number of reasons, it isn’t to rake law abiding citizens over to coals or try to steal their money in taxes. Filling the over 10k forms takes less then a minute and I’ve never had even an inquiry afterwords. Several times conducting legal business overseas I’ve come back with large amounts of currency. They ask, I answer honestly and move on.
Take the money and deposit it, fill out the form and move on. This isn’t worth stressing about or even giving a second thought.
I just meant they won’t be used to seeing large amounts of bills from each decade up until the present day. Old coins are normal. Old bills aren’t.
Still, I would just follow the advise here and deposit it all confidently. There are no taxes to be paid or any laws broken. There is nothing anyone can do about it even if it did raise suspicion.
The bank is obligated by law to try to detect your attempts at structuring. So their software looks at the pattern of your deposits. If you trip the trigger, they’ll report what they found. It’s up to the Feds to decide to do anything with that info.
The bank doesn’t know or care where the money originally came from or how you came into possession of it. All they know or care is that IF you’re depositing cash, THEN they have to keep an eye on you & report what they observe IF you cross certain thresholds.
My wife’s a banking attorney. She deals with CTR & structuring issues fairly regularly. The right answer is for the OP’s friend to go down to the bank, deposit all the money at one go, fill out the CTR form & go home safe & happy. That form will disappear into the maw of the Fed’s computers & sit there ignored forever, just like the Ark of the Covenant at the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Do you mean that there are no simple saving banks in the US where people can put their savings, earn 1-2% interest without paying a fee that eats everything up, keeping the inflation from eating the money? (Are Savings and Loans or Credit Unions these types of banks, but you didn’t count them under “normal” banks?)
Can she exchange the old bills at the Federal Bank, so as not to get problems with cashiers if she decides to spend the cash instead?
I would always advise against under-the-mattress, not only because of inflation eating the money, while a savings account brings interest, but also because of the too-many stories of how that mattress/ cupboard etc. was thrown out by clueless relatives during some renovation, because those people generally neglect to tell anybody (for “security” reasons).
What about asset forfeiture? Can the government try to seize the cash if somehow authorities noticed it in her house during a call?
Can they seize it if you deposit it even?
Notice in this case there was no evidence of any criminal activity, just a guy with a lot of cash.
Short answer: Yes there are.
Long answer: In the US the three main flavors of retail financial insuttions are banks, savings & loans, and credit unions. Most US folks use the term “bank” loosely to mean all 3.
All offer a savings vehicle which pays a modest interest. Over most of the last 50 years the nominal rates have been inflation plus or minus a couple percent, but usually positive net of inflation. Historically there were no fees on these types of accounts but nowadays maintenance fees are common unless the balance is non-trivial. Maintaining a $1000 minimum balance to get a monthly fee waiver is a common threshold.
As a rule of thumb, true banks are the least consumer-friendly, while credit unions are the most consumer-friendly.
And recently it’s hard to find anybody paying interest equal to the headline rate of inflation, much less the actual rate of inflation.
Damn near anything is possible, including a meteor hitting her house & smashing all the money to smithereens. What matters is what’s likely.
Even in the infamous case you cited, the original court decision was that forfeiture was not appropriate. The appeals court disagreed & sent the case back down for further trial. At least as far as is documented in the wiki article, the fate of the money is not yet decided.
Yes, the civil forfeiture laws of this country aren’t consistent with any traditional notions of fairness, constitutionality, burdens of proof, or criminal law. OTOH, they’re not presently actually being used to round up little old lady’s life savings *en masse *either.
The OP’s friend has a risk management problem. As between drug task forces seizing her money and random burglars seizing her money I know which one I’d be concerned about. And it ain’t the Feds.
Some of the old bills may be worth more than their face value, depending on their condition.
I was actually speaking to those telling her to just keep it in her house, but with all the worry about bank deposits I was curious if a large deposit has ever triggered a seizure too.
I don’t think the feds give a crap about whether you’re a young punk or a little old lady.
The wiki you cited indicates that of the three appellate judges, one dissented:
If they can generate the substantial connection between the little old lady & the drugs trade, then yes, they won’t differentiate between a young punk & a little old lady.
If you really mean that you believe the Federal Courts are essentially crooked & will often decide with little or no regard for the evidence then there’s not much more we can usefully talk about. The Courts are far from perfect; they aren’t however, widely corrupt.
Hello? How about different banks, savings & loans, credit unions? Surely there is more than one “financial institution” in your town?
And if the LOL (little old lady) shows up at the bank with the money in a SOCK, it might lend more credibility to her story!
~VOW
Still counts as “structuring”.
Yeah, but if she deposits $1-2K a month every month consistently for a couple years nobody is going to even notice. There are alot of cash employees and low grade self employed types out there. I’m no tax protestor but I do understand folks that prefer not to draw notice to themselves. Go in throwing $9,500 a month for 4 months, yes they are going to think you are playing them.
You realize that what you are suggesting is a clear violation of Federal law, right? It isn’t even debatable.
Whatever you may think of the chances of being caught and charged with structuring, it is a felony; whereas depositing large amounts of cash is totally legal, and there’s no reason to believe that there would be any requirement to pay taxes on income earned a long time ago.
Those people are paranoid and delusional. Those same people might not walk down the street because the ‘law’ might suspect them of a crime.
It’s legal to deposit large amount of money and walk down the street, not doing so because you think something bad’s going to happen is just putting you one more step closer to the nut house.
NO, no NO!!!
This is “structuring” - a Federal crime.
Just deposit it all at once. A CTR doesn’t really set off any alarms - unless you are already being looked at for other issues.
In her case, there is a tiny chance she could get picked for a tax audit, in which case she simply tells the truth. A “cash hoard” is a beleivable and well used excuse, and will only be automatically discounted if she lives well beyond her means or they can show a source of cash income, esp illegal cash income. Assuming your friend is not selling dope on the side- just follow the law, deposit it all at once.
I am CAMS certified, thus I am a expert on money laundering laws. IANAL, however.
Bricker is completely, 100% right…including the last part.
Also, 100% right, including the last part about the Ark- unless of course there’s some other reason they are already investigating her.
CTRs do not trigger anything, they are not even looked at by a real live person. They are called up only when the Feds are looking at you for other financial crimes. A SAR, otoh, is always looked at by a Real Live Federal Agent, and can be bad news. Just ask Gov Spitzer.
This become solid evidence of intent to structure funds. Do Not Pass Go!, etc.