The advice I received is many years old, but I was given the recommendation that you have to report based on the real value of the gold. Not on the imaginary value on the face of the Canadian Maple Leaf or the American Eagle or any other like dodge. I would rather be safe than sorry. How much would it cost you to have your lawyer argue about it with the FBI? Structuring is a federal offense. Nobody can read your mind, so if it looks like structuring and smells like structuring, it's anybody's guess how far a DA would take a case against you for something like this.


You know very well that value of the gold coins is more than $10,000. Declare it as such and go on with your day with no worries. I don't see any upside to making excuses to yourself to avoid a declaration. If you don't want to declare the coins, seems just as well to leave them at home.

Leaving the United States, yes, I've had this problem. What we did to resolve it was to download the currency reporting form from the internet and print it out ourselves. MSY rarely if ever has any customs officials around. We were told to hand in the forms at the connecting gate at DTW, and they would make sure it got back to customs. I assume that they have done so.

I don't remember ever having enough cash to declare any currency, departing any other airport but DTW, departing on gambling trips to London, but I would imagine it works the same everywhere. At MIA and IAH they appear to have more customs agents available to screen departing travelers. At IAH I was stopped and asked how much cash I had. "$2,500." "Where are you going?" "Madagascar." "How long will you be there." "A month." "Have a nice trip." No form required. Actually, since there's nothing to spend money on in Madagascar, seems like I ended up bringing most of it back. I was worried about the ATM shortages I'd heard about over there.

Entering the United States, there is always a customs agent around, so "nobody around to accept the form" is not an issue.

I don't think they are monetary instruments though. They do not qualify as " foreign coins currently in circulation". They do not circulate.

If you carried out a pound of gold jewellery, you wouldn't need to declare would you? (though they could ask questions certainly).

The signs say, "Declare all articles/ goods acquired outside the USA." So IMHO gold coins (& ingots, too) are either: 1. Goods, or 2. Monetary Instruments--declarable as one or the other.
If the OP does not want to raise eyebrows at US Customs by declaring, I suppose s/he could sell 2 of the coins & spend the money abroad, deposit it to a foreign bank account, or mail a check/ wire the money to pay his credit card bill, then bring 8 coins home.

I used to be a banking consultant for Canadian currency where I traveled to Canada with cash in my suitcase & either deposited it in a bank account in Canada or returned with a bank draft in US$. About 20% of the time the Customs man made me count my cash in front of him in the secondary-inspection room. Most of the time he just accepted my form, gave me a photocopy to prove to the Canadian bank that I had declared it, & sent me on my way.

Of course, when I first started & they found out that I had not declared, they detained me for 2.5 hours & tried to scare me into confessing to involvement with illegal drugs, searched my car, & finally believed me when they found my list of client banks. They filled out the form & sent me off with a warning, but then I was on their list to be sent to Secondary the next 5 times in a row!