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Show Money laundering dirty business More information can be found in free ERS Publication 1544, Reporting Cash Payments of Over $10,000 Received in a Trade or Business. Both Publication 1544 and Form 8300 may be ordered by calling 1 -800-TAX-FORM (1-800-829-3676). r Any way you look at it, the United States loses when money is "laundered." Money laundering involves concealing con-cealing funds, or their nature or illegal il-legal source, so that they will appear ap-pear legitimate if discovered. Most often, people think of crime or drug "lords" laundering money so it cannot be traced to their crimes. However, even money earned in otherwise legitimate activities ac-tivities can be laundered to hide its existence and thereby go unreported. Congress has passed a number of laws to help combat this problem. Laws such as the 1970 Bank Secrecy Act, the Tax Reform Act of 1984 and the 1988 Drug Bill form the basis of programs designed to expose money laundering. Financial institutions as well as casinos have for many years filed currency transaction reports (CTR) with the Internal Revenue Service. Any other business, not covered by the CTR filing requirements, must file Form 8300, "Report of Cash Payments Over $10,000 Received in a Trade of Business. ' ' Cash payments of over $10,000 may be received in the course of any business, not just by high price businesses such as auto dealers, antique an-tique or art dealers, jewelers, law firms or real estate or insurance agencies. Businesses may also receive lesser payments that, when added to other cash payments made by or for a specific customer, add up to more than $10,000. IRS requires these businesses to file Form 8300 with the Internal Revenue Service within 15 days of receipt of the payment or payments that total over $10,000. Form 8300 may also be filed voluntarily vol-untarily if a business owner feels a cash payment of less than $10,000 is suspicious. Businesses are also required to give written statements to those named on any Forms 8300 filed. The statement must give the business' busi-ness' name and address and the total amount being reported. Also it must state that the information is being reported to IRS. The statement state-ment must be sent to the buyer by Jan. 3 1 after the year in which the cash requiring the report was received. |