When did it become offensive to pay cash for a car?

[disneysteve]

Banks would drive themselves silly if they had to report every check over $10K that passed through their doors daily.

Not if it's done automatically. Most checks today are processed electronically. There is no human involved. Heck, all of my check deposits are done through my iPhone. The transaction is totally electronic. It would be simple for there to be a system in place to automatically file a report when I deposit a check for 10K or more.

[disneysteve]

Still, I can't find anything suggesting that banks report anything other than cash and select other items (see bolded sentence below). The whole point is to detect money laundering schemes. Depositing a personal check that can be easily traced isn't an issue. The idea is to scrutinize the transactions that can't be traced so easily.

That said, ~bs might be right and banks may go above and beyond what the law requires and just report everything. But from a strictly legal standpoint, they are not required to report non-cash transactions.

From banks.org:

When do banks report deposits to IRS? Banks and credit unions are required to report a cash deposit of $10,000 or larger.

In addition, if two transactions within a 12-month period seem related and their total exceeds $10,000 they must be reported. If a series of smaller deposits is made within a 24-hour period and their combined total exceeds $10,000, the IRS considers the transactions related to each other and they are reported as well.

Even if deposits are not made within 24 hours, if a bank or credit union has legitimate reason to suspect an individual is making regular deposits in order to avoid being reported, they are required to report their suspicions.

Cash deposits as defined by the IRS includes all currency and coins that are legal tender in the United States, in addition to the legal tender of all other countries as well. Deposits of personal checks do not fall under the Bank Secrecy Act because these types of checks can always be traced back to the account of the individual who wrote the check. Only bank drafts, money orders and certain types of checks such as a traveler’s or cashier’s check, are affected by the rules of the Bank Secrecy Act.