valdor

Why do people tolerate such capital controls? Shouldn't you be free to move money around without restriction in a free economy?

GUWonder

It's not as much a capital control measure as it is a surveillance measure.

The money is free to move out of the US, contingent upon the required reporting requirements being fulfilled.

Annalisa12

Surely granny can just show where her money came from and if legit she can get it back.

GUWonder

Not that easy, and not cheaply, even when the fund source is legit.

slawecki

you sure about any of this? does every commercial wire transfer out of USA if over 10k have to be reported? i sent a whole lot of those, and never reported. if i stuff 20 grand in my secret money belt, does that mean i know it is illegal? i quit giving my wife large sums of money(less than 10K), when we traveled, because she would stuff the cash in her bra.

invisible

Yes.

It is not reported to you or by you, it is reported by the bank to IRS.

Tchiowa

Exactly. You don't need to report wire transfers because the bank does it automatically.

Annalisa12

I think the customs cad needs to say that it is ok to take 10k out of the country ou just need to report it. I think people are scared they cannot do it so hide it.

I have to show id when I bank more than 10k so it is reported. Im a business owner. I said to bank id I was just doing illegal stuff I'd bank more often but not over 10k

GUWonder

Structuring bank transactions in the US to try to avoid bank reporting requirements may run foul of our laws too.

Here's what may appear to be an inconsistency that probably drove part of slawecki's question/comment/post:

"You must report it" vs "the bank does it automatically" and you don't need to report it.

slawecki

from duties to conform with IRS 8300


Does a wholesaler report transactions paid in US (or foreign) coins and currency only?
Yes, if the wholesaler receives payment in the form of coins or currency. A wholesaler would rarely have a designated reporting transaction and therefore, need not report transactions paid with cashier’s checks, bank drafts, traveler’s checks or money orders.
What if a retailer also does some wholesale transactions, would the expanded definition of cash only apply to its retail sales?
No. If the trade or business of the seller principally consists of sales to ultimate consumers, then all sales, including wholesale transactions, are considered “retail sales”.
Is a personal check considered cash for reporting on Form 8300?
No. Personal checks are not considered cash.

so, i order and pay for $10000+ of merchandise from europe, go to a commercial money changer, convert usD to euro or zlota, and pay. as i read 8300, i do not report. i made a lot of these transactions when i imported "stuff" from overseas, and not only never reported, i was never notified that i was supposed to report.

Tchiowa

The reason is that $100 are commonly counterfeited. In some countries there are more counterfeit Benjamins than real ones. I remember one time in Angola an Angolan friend sold a car and asked for $100s, then gave them to me because there was something she wanted me to buy in the US for her. I tested them with the felt tip counterfeit tester pen. All were fake.

They want the newest ones because they are harder to counterfeit and it is less likely that someone will have figured out how to make fake notes

Unblemished notes are also important. Some places won't take $100s if there is a torn corner or someone wrote on them. Not a problem in the US, of course, but big problem in Asia and Africa.

GUWonder

For at least most of my life, the most commonly counterfeited bill seems to have been the $20 note followed by the $100 note -- even as the chance of a $100 note being counterfeit -- in many (but not all) parts of the world outside of the US -- is far higher than the chance of a $20 note being counterfeit. [The Federal Reserve and the Secret Service cover this topic.]

In the aggregate, it's only a very, very tiny fraction of 1% of US notes that are found to be counterfeited.

The newest $100 notes are far, far harder to counterfeit than any other US notes out there, and so currency users preferring the new $100 notes is a way to minimize the chances of being passed or passing a counterfeit note. Wanting to avoid being passed or passing counterfeiting notes seems completely legitimate in and of itself.

Centurion

I will let you folks find these individual articles via google and you do the addition of why we have a new $100 bill
1. North Korea has the exact same press as we used on our old $100 bill
2. Asian countries have the linen cotton paper for our old $100 bill
3. The USA quickly rushed out a new $100 bill many years ago.
4. The USA spent millions on equipment to detect all errors on the new $100
5. USA gave up gave on error notes at +50% and decided to improve production quality.
6. The USA has been financing North Korea and other Countries via fake notes

tods27

Many people in the US are not familiar with the US tax laws on taking your money out of the country. Basically, the IRS taxes you on the money that you take out of the country if you are a moving to another country. People who don't want to pay the tax have been known to take large amounts of cash with them when they fly to the country that they are moving to. This would be an issue for people with green cards who work in the US for a few years, then want to return to their country of residence. It also applies if you give up your US citizenship and move to another country - you have to pay tax on the cash that you move to the new country. There are probably more details, but I don't know all the regulations.

Not saying that this was the case here.

scoow

I'll admit I am not real familiar with tax laws, but what would be the rational for taxing money I'm taking out of the country (other than "because we can")? As a US Citizen, I've already paid taxes when the money was earned. I'm moving overseas to work for a few years and want to take a few thousand dollars "pocket change" to supplement my paychecks or to tide me over until my first paycheck or whatever. I understand that I have to declare money in excess of $10,000. But why would this money be taxed?