Originally Posted by
greentips
What is worse, if you make a cash payment to anyone greater than $10k, the business is required to file a FINCEN/IRS form 8300. Where this might come into play is a private cash transaction: Let's say you seek the advice of an attorney when a DEA agent threatens to seize your money for arbitrary and capricious reasons. The attorney agrees to represent you, in exchange for a retainer of $10k. You give him $8k cash and a $2k cashier's check. The attorney is now required to file the FINCEN 8300 letting the IRS (and presumably the DEA) know you paid cash to a lawyer. That's why my patent attorney prefers personal checks or credit card payments. The IRS/DEA/Treasury/Gov't can simply follow the money and gain a great deal of knowledge about out from the money trail.
I knew someone who once purchased a house with cash. The closing took place at a small law firm in a rural area - the house also came with a lot of land and wasn't cheap. All along the buyer had been indicating he'd be paying cash, but nobody expected him to bring stacks of $100s.
They quickly moved the closing to the bank down the street where the tellers kindly counted and bundled the money for deposit.