Steve M

To add to what was already said in #79, it's not quite that simple. It's true that you can take as many independent trips with $9999 each time with no reporting requirement. But, if you take a series of trips, each with not more than $10,000, and the purpose of the multiple trips is such that any one of them is not reportable but where they're part of a larger transaction, then you run into the "structuring" problem. There's your grey area.

dand99

Was wondering - from those who've had to declare in excess of $10k when entering the US - was it really as easy as "walk in through the red channel and answer a couple of questions" ? Or did it take more time ?

I am entering the states and need to make a connection - so might have to plan my connection differently depending on how long this may take ....

Thanks

D.

bruceba

stimpy

I think a lot may depend on your citizenship. If you are a US citizen, you may have an IRS form to fill out. Citizens of other countries may have other issues.

dand99

I did this at PHI a few weeks ago.

Was fast and easy - the customs guy was ecstatic that I had the form already downloaded and filled in (apparently saves him time) - asked a couple of cursory questions and I was on my way. Took 5 minutes or so - having said that I was on an early flight and the only person in customs.

D.

akentryan

Does anyone know if Amex still makes large denomination TCs you can buy for free? Last I checked they did not. I think $500 was the largest and that came in a $1,000 package with smaller denominations. You could order only $500 but that takes time. Used to be the preferred way because TCs command a higher exchange value than paper money. You can bank transfer funds but at a cost of 2 or 3% plus they always hose you on the exchange rate. May not sound like much but wife and I will have about $30K and the bank commission would be $1K plus or minus - about a third of the cost of our tickets. In any event you still have to report it.

chinatraderjmr

Everyone (citizens & non citizens) fills out the same form & it's YOUR responsibility to download it & fill it out before entering / leaving the US (though customs usually have blank ones for those honest enough to check "YES" when the customs form asks if you have over 10K. It's called the FinCen form 105. It's a simple unobtrusive document. Customs will usually just let you thru, sometimes they ask to see it and rarely they will spend 5 min asking about it.

It's not illegal to carry ANY amount in/out so that's why it's no big deal. The big deal is NOT declaring it. I've seen people have their money confiscated and a few times the holder hand cuffed. FILL OUT THE FORM!!!

slawecki

the only place i ever found free amex TC's was from AAA as a member. i had to . call in advance and get them. as i recall, there were $100 checks available. 30k=300 checks. each should be signed. 300 checks is a pretty big brick to haul around. once you fill out the form, you have to give it to the proper person. i never found that person!!! i never had a problem getting out of usa with the checks. to convert them, one must ....ersign ever one. every foreign bank i ever used had a cash and a TC rate to convert. i found the two to be quite similar, and usually a bit over 1 %.

a number of countries wanted a declaration of cash going out of the country. i recall GB to be one and germany another. i ended up on some computer list. lhr pulled me out of line and searched me for about 10 years. fra still goes through everything, searching for traces of long gone TC's,20 years later.

if you d not use the tc's you still must sign all 300 to deposit the money and report it as an over 10K deposit.

i gave up on tc's and i got a pair of pants with sealable pockets, and put cash in sealable pockets, and wore them. or, better yet, i got out of that business, and use an on line money converter, and wired or mailed the money.

chinatraderjmr

I

In most cases you never ee customs agents when you leave the country - only on the way in.......But if you have over $10K its worth FINDING an agent, even if you must go downstairs to arrivals and talk your way in. Occasionally, I have boarded flights (usually to DXB or Asia) and once I entered the jetway, there were 3-4 customs agents lurking. When you see that chances are they are looking for people holding over $10K and you don't want to be caught that way

Kremmen

Banks will rip you off, but there are other electronic transfer companies, such as xe.com, which do transfers at about 1% from mid-rate with no other fees.

I used to get free Amex TCs in Australia through Westpac (which is the bank where the Amex offices are located here) and I believe $100 was the biggest we could get too. So long as you always get them in the destination currency, you can cash them at various places, such as hotels, without having to care what foreign exchange rate they might use.

GUWonder

Indeed. Why risk having the cash or certain other financial instruments seized on departure from the US or on arrival into the US when its substantially less risky for non-ill-gotten gains to just be declared on the appropriate declaration forms.

By the way, many countries have a legal requirement to declare cash above a certain amount on arrival to and/or departure from the country -- this would include most countries in the Americas, Europe and many places in Asia including major financial centers like Singapore. In these places, citizenship doesn't change the legal obligation to declare the transport of cash when the cash amount is above the legally-stipulated amount for declaration on entry to and/or exit from a country.

slawecki

amex TC's in for'n currency with us$ had a huge exchange rate charge tied to them when i last looked at them. about 3%.

chinatraderjmr

Its really not a big deal to take $$ in or out. I just printed the FinCen form I need to bring OUT more then $10,000 and the CBP web page makes it very clear that you can bring as much as you want thru customs - u just need to report it. We have a very large hotel bill (room & tax) in Maldives coming up........the bill is almost $25K so don't want to use my CC since this hotel will try to hold DOUBLE - my card won't approve that without speaking to me and that can take "hours" not to mention holding so much credit - the hotels in Maldives use USD rates and if you pay cash, there is no exchange but if you use a card, even with no foreign conversion fees they still exchange US - Maldives and back to US. So the easiest thing to do is hand them $25K in cash or T/C's at check in and just use card for incidentals when checking out. When leaving the US, just go to customs downstairs with the form and have it stamped - takes 0-5 min. - its not a big deal except trying to sleep n the flight with all that $$ in your pockets

Kremmen

I haven't done it in a few years, but it looking now, it seems like the rates have become worse here too. We can also get Membership Rewards for buying them, plus pay by credit card and earn even more points. (So long as the bank doesn't realise that it's a cash transaction, which most banks rule as non-points-earning.)

That sounds the opposite of all things FT! Passing up 25k of reward credit to pay in cash?! If a hotel wanted to jack me around with ludicrous holds and bad exchange rate policies on that kind of business, I'd tell them to stop behaving in such a reprehensible, incompetent way or take my business elsewhere. If customers paying that kind of money bend over and take it, that just encourages them to screw everyone.

relangford

I thought it was also to stop narco-laundering.