By Megan L. Brackney
The CPA Journal
June 2020 Edition
The Internal Revenue Code and the Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) require that persons engaged in a trade or business file Form 8300, Report of Cash Payments Over $10,000 Received in a Trade or Business, any time the business receives more than $10,000 in cash in a single transaction (or two or more related transactions) in the course of their trade or business [IRC section 6050I(a); 31 USC 5331] . The business must also furnish annual statements notifying the customers who made the payments that it reported the transactions to the IRS [IRC section 6050I(e)]. Congress enacted these reporting requirements in the 1980s to enable the IRS to monitor large cash transactions and detect money laundering schemes, and there are significant civil and criminal penalties for failure to comply.
