$9,999

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They are REQUIRED to fill out a form 8300 for transactions over $10K but they MAY fill one out for any transaction that they deem suspicious.

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My question is this: What's the point of the $10k threshold when amounts under $10k are also subject to being flagged? Is it totally arbitrary on the part of the bank? Guidelines?

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But the Bank Secrecy Act also requires banks to report to the federal government any activity from customers that might be construed as structuring deposits to avoid the reporting requirement. So if you have $100,000 to deposit in your bank account, and you deliberately choose to deposit that money in increments of $9,999 so your bank won’t automatically notify the federal government, you’re guilty of structuring. It’s a felony punishable by a fine and/or up to five years in prison.

Your bank is also required to report any suspicious activity by its customers. Moreover, your bank is prohibited from letting you know that it has reported you to the government. Banks that fail to sufficiently police their customers or banks that notify customers that they’ve been reported for suspicious deposits risk financial sanctions. Bank personnel found to have neglected their duties to report suspicious customer behavior can also be criminally charged and sent to prison. So there’s quite a bit of incentive for your bank to give you up, and to cast a wide net around what constitutes “suspicious activity.” There’s lots of risk in under-policing for structuring, and virtually no risk of losing customers due to a policy of over-reporting them to the government. Most customers will never know.

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I happened to be in my neighborhood Chase branch this morning and quizzed one of the officers nearby. I offered these 2 hypotheticals...

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What does the form they fill out mean to me in the long run?

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