You're thinking of a currency transaction report (CTR), which has a standard of $10,000 instead. Banks file SARs against customers so that the feds can follow

You're thinking of a currency transaction report (CTR), which has a standard of $10,000 instead. Banks file SARs against customers so that the feds can follow up. No one would work with cash above that limit if they had to file a SAR every time. Though when banks see transactions over $5,000, they will sometimes write SARs. It sounds like you're mixing and matching the concepts and standards of CTRs and SARs, which seems like a reasonable enough mistake. I also agree that when stuff is this complicated for what seems like no good reason, the answer is often money laundering. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currency_transaction_report https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Currency_transaction_report https://www.ffiec.gov/bsa_aml_infobase/pages_manual/OLM_015.htm https://www.ffiec.gov/bsa_aml_infobase/pages_manual/OLM_015....