Hello,

I'm traveling to the U.S. in a couple of weeks and will be carrying close to $30,000 in cash with me. I'll be arriving to JFK via London Heathrow. I'm going to travel with my two brothers. The question is can we split the money amongst the three of us and not have to declare it? Or, is the form that we have to fill out per family? We're all going to enter using the same form. The last we came to the U.S. a couple of months ago, I had about $13,000 with me, but didn't declare it. I don't want to take any chances this time, though. Anyway, if we do declare it, will we get stopped and eventually questioned? If so, is it an easy process or am I going to get questioned over how I got the money, what I need it for, and so forth?

Thanks! Replies greatly appreciated.

- Jason

You should declare the $30,000. 3 brothers is probably a "family". I have declared $$$. No big deal. They don't ask anything. If you don't declare, they might confiscate the money .. you may get it back after a fight.
Some people from Germany got at RSW (Ft. Myers) in big trouble...LTU/AirBerlin agents are asking the pax to declare!

If the money is all yours, splitting it up to avoid the reporting requirement is called "structuring". It will result in seizure of the money, if discovered, as well as being a criminal offense. Easier just to declare it. Shouldn't cost you more than five or ten minutes of your time.

I believe this question is one for returning US citizens, but must be answered by all. The Government (IRS) is concerned with money being brought into the USA from citizens that have not paid income taxes on it.

No. The question is for everyone (citizen or not; resident of US or not). It has to do with proceeds of crime and terrorist financing legislation, not tax law.

It is not just currency, but all monetary instruments (such as cheques), that must be included in this declaration. One must declare upon export as well as upon import.

One time for fun, i wrote myself a check for $1,000,000 while on an LHR -> BOS flight. Didn't tell a soul......

Ahh the good old days of being young and not caring about the consequences.

The rules have been around for a long time before the current round of hysteria regarding terrorism. Back then, the relevant form was Customs Form 4790, which was hosted by the IRS website and seems to have been derived from IRS Form 4790. So I'm pretty sure the original concern was mostly taxes.

Of course, now the form has been turned over to fincen and appropriately hyped as necessary to combat terrorism. Like an actual bad guy is going to fill out the form.

What a thrill seeker you were in your youth! Not only risking confiscation of the check, but also running a risk of being caught for intentional fraud? (I assume that you didn't have a balance in your checking account to cover the check). I can tell that you were a really wild hooligan ...

I concur.

salute to that.

I've split up family money between a few people to not have to report it. Mostly because the country we were going to, it was possible that the customs guys would tip someone who would follow you home and liberate the money.

This was a related thread from earlier this year...

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=809380

You violated no law. Only checks made out to "Cash" or "Bearer" are subject to the reporting requirement.

As to the OP, be sure to spend $3 and divide $29,997 so that the three of you will be in compliance. I am not aware that this would be illegal "structuring," although I could be wrong.

Why is it needful to carry this kind of cash around?

An ATM card might be something to try. @:-)

And just how many trips to the ATM will it take to get US$30K? Not to mention the transaction costs.