Depositing large amounts of money

[tulog]

Cash deposits of $10,000 or more get reported to the government. Nothing bad happens. They just do it to track suspicious activity due to the drug trade. They look for patterns. In your case, most of the money is probably checks, not cash, if they were wedding presents. That is no problem at all.

This is correct. Also, the bank must report *any* transaction that it determines are suspicious. The bank could decide that you depositing $3000 is suspicious. Also, structured deposits of amounts less than $10,000 (depositing $9,500 twice in some time period, for example) are reportable.

As for gift tax, that only applies if you received a single gift from one person exceeding $13,000. It doesn't matter what the total gift amount is if it came from multiple people.

Gift tax does not apply if you receive gifts; it applies when you give gifts. Feel free to receive as many gifts as you want without reporting them to anyone!

[tulog]

Thanks everyone for the info. One last question, at the end of the year when my wife and I do our taxes, the amount we received as gifts has to be included correct?

No. You do not report gifts.

[disneysteve]

Gift tax does not apply if you receive gifts; it applies when you give gifts. Feel free to receive as many gifts as you want without reporting them to anyone!

Thanks for clarifying that. Yes, gift tax is paid by the giver, not the recipient. That is due to issues with a lifetime estate tax exemptions. It is to avoid people giving away all of their money prior to death to avoid estate taxes.

[akim1220]

Thanks for all the help everyone!

[GrimJack]

Thanks everyone for the info. One last question, at the end of the year when my wife and I do our taxes, the amount we received as gifts has to be included correct?

Gift taxes fall on the giver not on the givee. If someone gives a gift, it is decreasing their 'estate' and they have to account for it (over 13k now I think). Back when the economy was going much better, I was getting 10k per year and I never had to worry about it. If I had received more per year, the 'estate' would have had to subtract it from the $1 million credit against tax (sorry for the cumbersome language but what seems simple in theory is pretty complex when you try to explain it). Of course, this year there is no estate tax but it is returning to 1 megadollar next year. I am not a tax preparer and just because I work for the IRS does not mean I should be quoted or trusted, i just look stuff up on google.

[wincrasher]

During the financial meltdown, I was one of the loonies that withdrew alot of money from the bank and carried it around with me. I ended up with $15k in hundreds that I kept with a rubber band around it in my backpack.

When I finally came to my senses (after a couple months)and took it to the bank. The teller was really nervous and had me fill out this form stating who I was and what I did for a living. I would have assumed that they would kinda know who I was, since I had an account there. For a brief second, I thought it'd be fun to put "drug dealer" or "pimp" on the form, but it already looked like she was going to have a panic attack as it was.

Ed, the branch manager, just sat there on his fat butt looking at me like I was a lunatic, which I clearly was.

So if you are worried about government conspiracies, the oppression of the IRS, and the not-so-secret Obama plan to totally take over every aspect of our lives, then just make deposits of less that $10k. Anything less than that amount, no forms, just smiles.