The Bank Secrecy Act requires financial institutions, including all commercial banks, to report any cash deposit, withdrawal, or exchange of funds exceeding $10,000 to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The law was designed to combat tax evasion and money laundering. But has created a financial nightmare for businesses.

The law applies to single or aggregated transactions. It applies to cash, not checks or electronic transfers. For cash deposits of $10,000 or more, banks are required to ask for identification and other information.

Structuring, also referred to as Smurfing is the illegal practice of splitting or breaking down larger deposits into multiple smaller amounts to evade bank reporting requirements. It is a serious federal  crime to evade the reporting requirements. Money resulting from deposits of less than $10,000 may be seized based on a suspicious activity report. Even depositing $8,000 one day and $2,500 the next day into a separate accounts is considered suspicious activity by our government.

The $3,000 bank rule requires financial institutions, to including; all commercial banks, to verify customer identities and keep detailed records when selling cashier's checks, traveler's checks, or money orders when purchased with cash in amounts between $3,000 and $10,000. This is based on the Bank Secrecy Act anti-money laundering law.