A question for bankers

[watchoutthegameisrigged]

Yeah, I'm sure some are here. This question concerns funding my hobby activities. I'm not particularly worried about the IRS - income is reported correctly - but I am concerned about a SAR (suspicious activity report) that my SO might find out about. Here's the deal. I own my own company with a few partners. We pay ourselves a fairly modest salary but get bonuses many months depending on how business is. Sometimes there is none, sometimes it is modest and sometimes it is quite substantial. My SO has no idea what it is. My question is this. There have been several times since I started in the hobby 1 1/2 years ago when the bonus was good that I deposited a check and took back $1000 in cash, asking for hundred dollar bills. How likely is that to trigger a SAR? Again, I'm not worried about the government - at least in this regard - but I don't want anything coming to my house that would cause questions. I know the official threshold is $10,000 but there is also that language concerning lesser amounts and "a pattern of".

[Guest100820]

I'm not a banker but I have withdrawn large cash amounts quite a few times (for legitimate reasons unrelated to hobbying) and have never had any type of report filed. I heard about this kind of stuff and asked our business' BoA rep about it once and she said it's extremely rare and that they don't even care about anything under $4-6k.

[Still Looking]

Yes the FED limit is $10,000.00 in CASH but some commercial banks are lower my self imposing a limit of $9,800-$9,500. Some seem to thing that's per day but its per business week. The banks have a system in place so that this happens at a corporate level rather than at the banking facility. Mainly this is to monitor drug trafficking and money laundering. They could give a crap if you spend the money on hookers or what ever vices you might have.

[Guest040816-1]

Due to my work, I am required to do annual review of and education on Anti Money Laundering procedures. I don't think, as I understand it, that taking cash out of checks is an issue that will trigger so much of a SAR as it is the depositing of cash, So yes, 10k is the threshold, but if you deposit $1000 in cash multiple times, the idea is that you may be trying to break up deposits to stay under the $10k threshold.

The big concern with AML procedures, and SARs, as I understand it, is that "bad" money is trying to be made "good." The goal of money-launderers is to legitimize the money "earned" in illegal activity. So, unless you are a drug dealer with loads of cash you are trying to get that money out of cash and into the "legitimate" money stream, or if you are a pimp or hooker trying to legitimize your money, what you are doing should not be an issue. Mind you, I'm not an attorney, or an accountant, but I know what I have been trained to look for, and what you're doing is not it.

Now if you were taking cash out of checks meant to be deposited into your company accounts, you might have an issue with your partners.....

[watchoutthegameisrigged]

No, the checks are written to me personally after the funds have already been deposited into our company account. I'm not skimming company funds. And when I do get a bonus (more accurately a distribution), every partner gets the exact same bonus. The only person I am hiding anything from is my SO and if you have one and hobby, that's regrettably unavoidable in ways large and small. Thanks for the info guys, my mind is a lot easier because of it. There are so many ways to screw up in the hobby and I wanted to make sure this was not one of them.

[Dragonpunch]

0 chance. SAR may triggered when you deposit over 10k in cash.

[Dragonpunch]

Or you have like 8k or 9k cash deposits on the reg to avoid taxes.

[Dragonpunch]

Ｉ use to be a banker teller long time ago and I also worked as an accountant.

[Roothead]

As noted in prior responses,AML and KYC requirement thresholds are such that given your described pattern of behaviors and frequencies, you have nada to worry about, at least from your banking transactions

[Cpalmson]

Not a banker here, so I don't know the official rules for reporting-- i.e. the bank is required to take action. As I understand it, all of this is for regulatory purposes and the info is reported to government agencies and not to individuals like your SO. I don't think the banks are under ANY obligation to report substantial activities to a spouse. Now, here are a couple of things to consider. Is your SO part owner or an officer in your company? If so, your SO could be privy to corporate transactions via monthly/annual reports. If your SO is not an officer of the company, you don't have to worry about that; however, you do have to worry if she gets suspicious. If she thinks something is going on, she can probably hire an investigator to do a forensic check on your accounts which will more than likely show your pattern of withdraws. Now, she won't know what the withdraws are for, but she will probably be able to put together enough info to make things uncomfortable for you.

[Worldtravler]

I hope the SO isn't friends with your partners and there SO, then you might have more problems than the bank, woman love to talk. Nothing like a bunch of woman sitting around talking about the business and the bonus checks, she might ask you why yours is always a $1000 less than the others.

[watchoutthegameisrigged]

She is not an officer in the company, has no idea I hobby (and I'm super careful to keep it that way - hence my question) and she has very, very little contact with my partner's wives. My partners and I have gotten along for well over 20 years but we spend 40 hours a week together and very rarely socialize. And if I'm planning to take a grand back in cash, I just tell my wife that my distribution was a grand less than it really was. I'm loving this input guys! It's easing my mind.

[Guest100820]

Originally Posted by watchoutthegameisrigged

And if I'm planning to take a grand back in cash, I just tell my wife that my distribution was a grand less than it really was.

Is the world of marriage really so complicated? You no longer have any privacy even in regards to business profits or anything else?

(slightly offtopic I know, just curious)

[Guest061814]

Withdrawing $1000 will raise no red flags whatsoever. In a large city this is very routine. If you live in a small town, your only problem may be gossip by the bank employees. "gosh, Watchout likes to carry a lot of cash..."

However, my girlfriend who is a realtor used to do this when she was getting ready to divorce her husband. He ended up busting her when he reconciled her 1099's BUT he was a CPA.

The only other point might warn you about is that some banks now scan check deposits to be viewable online. If she's paying attention, then she could match up an inconsistency. Or, her divorce lawyer could.

That said, if your wife is that suspicious, you're probably already fucked...

Wasn't there a thread around at some point about creative ways to get hobby funds? Like cash back at Walgreen's etc? Lol

[Worldtravler]

Originally Posted by Your Naughty Muse

Withdrawing $1000 will raise no red flags whatsoever. In a large city this is very routine. If you live in a small town, your only problem may be gossip by the bank employees. "gosh, Watchout likes to carry a lot of cash..."



The only other point might warn you about is that some banks now scan check deposits to be viewable online. If she's paying attention, then she could match up an inconsistency. Or, her divorce lawyer could.

That said, if your wife is that suspicious, you're probably already fucked...

Lol

That's so true about small towns. And yes I know my bank scan's every check that comes thru my account and it shows up every month on my statement.