I traveled out of the country this week.

I was interviewed by impromtu custom officials about how much money I was taking out of the country.

I had to show them the money [less than $10,000] and they physically counted it.

Does this make sense? They had 10 agents there...do they really catch anything real here?

Any similar stories?

what do they do with all the information captured?

Thats a new one on me. Im guessing a random enforcement action of some sort. Going into the Phillipines they said at customs we couldnt bring in more than about $300. When I declared I had more than that, the inspector just smiled and said, something like, well, you can bring it in, but you cant leave with it.

Long and recent thread on this matter:

http://www.flyertalk.com/travel/fttr...ML/011707.html

Put simply: if you are leaving the US with more than $10k then you need to declare it (same with brining it in...)

Do you have to answer their questions?

Can you just tell them you have less than $10K rather than an exact amount?

Do they log amounts less than $10K to your profile?

As I recall, the question is Y/N, so you don't have to state the exact amount. Am I wrong?

What irks me the most is that the US is supposed to be this free trade model, supporter, and promoter, but they sack you with "duties" on practically anything and everything you may want to bring in.

As for me, I don't declare anything. Part of it is principle, and part of it is that I don't want to pay "duties". I haven't been given any extra attention in the past, but I know I'm risking getting my purchases confiscated. (I don't think they can do anything if you tell them it was a gift, not a purchase)

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www.witold.org

I understand that Customs has complete power over citizens when they are trying to reenter the USA, but what authority allows Customs to search outgoing citizens at airports?

Can Customs similarly visit my home randomly and count my money? After all, I may be leaving the country in the near future.

I have been asked this a few times and always said truthfully "far far less than $10,000". That was it. I am curious, just exactly where was your money counted, and was it within the view of the other passengers?

MisterNice

There is no duty to be paid on cash of any amount that's imported or exported. There's just a requirement to declare any amount that's more than $10,000.

Actually, it doesn't matter if it was gift to you or not, or if you plan to give it as a gift to someone else. As long as it was aquired aboard and you're importing it to the US, it's subject to duties. As far as merchandise is concerned, I don't think they can confiscate it for failure to declare. They can assess the proper duty, along with a civil and/or criminal penalty for failing to make an accurate delcaration.

As for currency, they can confiscate the entire amount if you have more than $10,000 and fail to declare it when entering or leaving the country.

31CFR103.56(c)(1) grants Customs the authority to investigate violations of the reporting requirement. They may not have blanket authority to search you for anything like they do upon entering the country, but they have specifically been granted the authority to enforce the Treasury Dept's regs regarding reporting export of more than $10,000.

You know this to be an extreme exaggeration. Unlike some countries, you can have any amount of money in your home or on your person. Actually, you can import and export any amount as well, as long as you declare it if it's more than $10,000. There is a similar reporting requirement anytime a business or bank receives more than $10,000 in cash per transaction (again, no tax or duty, just a requirement to report).

Separate from the mandatory reporting requirements, you *may* be subject to civil asset forfeiture if you have "too much" cash without a good reason (anywhere). I think the whole civil asset forfeiture system is out of control and should be reformed. There have been many cases (too many) of innocent people having their money seized because somebody thought it was "too much" to have. But this is a separate issue from the reporting requirements for importing and exporting currency. Unlike the civil asset forfeiture, you can have your money seized if you import or export more than $10,000 and fail to report it. Unlike civil asset forfeiture, there's no establishing after the fact that you had a good reason to have that much moeny - the failure to report it upon import/export in of itself is a violation.

[This message has been edited by Steve M (edited Dec 01, 2003).]

Very wise to post that on a public bulletin board, with a signature line linking to your real info.

My money was conted behind my suit case on the jetway.

If I told them it was less than $10,000 [and it was] could I have refused the search?

You probably could have but refusal would probably make your day a lot longer.

The currency laws are there to thwart drug runners since they tend to carry larger amounts of cash. Any amount of money that can be carried is legal to leave and enter the US as the US has no currency controls, but they'd at least like some reason (buying foreign real estate, donations, family remittance) and proof that you have or can legally acquire the money and not involved in a smuggling or laundering scheme.

There was a documentary on US customs on the Discovery Channel and they were talking about doing currency searches for people leaving the country and they were searching a fella who had like $4500 on him. A dog cought the sent of a lot of money, ask the guy if they could search his bag, and he had a wad of $100s and they counted it out, thanked him for cooperating and let him on his way. The agent said right after that nothing was noted or recorded since he was not breaking any laws.

Wait a minute here, you said a dog smelled that someone had a lot of money on them? That's certainly a new one on me! I have never heard of dogs trained to sniff currency, plus do $1 bills smell different than $100s?

Speaking of extreme exaggerations! This is simply not the case. There is no statute in the United States that can subject you to civil asset forfeiture for simply holding too much cash. This is malarkey!

There are, in fact, statutes that allow civil forfeitures IF the government can establish that the money came from illegal sources (money laundering, drug activity, bookmaking, prostitution rings, extortion, etc.) the government has the burden of proving this--but not beyond a reasonable doubt, since it is not a criminal case. Some people indeed lose in these cases when they are unable (or more likely unwilling) to give any cogent explanation as to where the $500,000 in cash in their attic came from. These people haven't lost their money because they "had too much cash," but because the government proved its case that the money came from illegal sources.

But a person who can prove where their money came from is not subject to civil forfeiture for "having too much cash." You can store as much cash as you want to under your mattress.

Your claims are simply not based in law or in fact.

Djlawman

I just had a very weird interview with a customs agent at EWR today. He seemed to be very interested in what my parents do for a living and then asked me why did I fly into EWR when I am going to WAS and not straight into WAS.

Weirdest customs questions I've ever heard.

Customs will ask weird questions on occassion. One female customs agent asked me who the Gucci shopping bag was for. [This cute customs agent in NY -- I did not know there were any before that day -- almost had me asking her out... and I should have. ]