Can I bring in more than $10,000 to the United States when travelling?
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I’m coming back into the United States and I need to bring in more than $10,000. I heard that it is illegal to bring that much money into the U.S. when you travel. Am I allowed to bring in more than $10,000 to the U.S. when I travel?
The simple answer to this question is: YES.
Many people are under the impression that you are not allowed to carry more than $10,000 into the United States; this is nothing more than an urban legend. The fact is that you may legally carry any amount of money you want into or out of the United States, but there is a catch. When transporting more than $10,000, you must file a report declaring the exact amount of funds you are transporting to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. To be clear, there are no customs duties, taxes or other fees paid to U.S. Customs for the international transportation of the money; it is merely a reporting requirement to U.S. Customs.
If persons traveling together have $10,000 or more, they cannot divide the currency between each other to avoid declaring the currency. For example, if one person is carrying $5,000 and the other has $6,000, they have a total of $11, 000 in their possession and must report it.
What happens if you don’t declare your money? The penalties and repercussions can be severe. If you are stopped by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer and more than $10,000 is found on your person or in your belongings and this money was not declared, you run the very real risk of CBP taking all of the money you were carrying… and keeping it.
Failure to report the international transportation of money is serious business. Not only could you lose your money forever, you may be subject to civil and criminal penalties.
On a side note, reporting requirements are not limited to cash dollars. The same requirements apply for various monetary instruments, including foreign currency, traveler’s checks, domestic or foreign bank notes, securities or stocks in bearer form. To learn more about the requirements of the Currency and Foreign Transaction Reporting Act, click here.
And if you are reading this blog post because you failed to report your funds and CBP has seized your money, your best bet is to contact an attorney who is knowledgeable and experienced with these matters. There is an administrative process by which you can attempt to recuperate your funds and having the assistance of a skilled attorney is key to maximizing your chance of getting your money back and minimizing your chances of exposing yourself to civil and criminal fines.
My firm and I are greatly experienced with these matters, having handled hundreds of these types of cases nationwide. This is a Federal process most often done through email, telephone and snail mail correspondence with the Federal Government and so we can help no matter where in the country you are located or your monies were seized. Although we are located in South Florida, we handle cases all over the country.
With all of the complexities involved in the import process, even customs brokers can make mistakes such as by providing the wrong tariff classification of the imported item to U.S. Customs and Border Protection . A customs broker who makes such a mistake may become the subject of an investigation by U.S. Customs which ultimately results in a $30,000 penalty against the broker.