Updated October 16, 2026. Quick answer: Form 8300 reports cash payments over $10,000 received in a trade or business. The instructions say each person in a trade or business who receives more than $10,000 in cash in one transaction or in two or more related transactions must file it. The form is due by the 15th day after the date the cash was received, and payments in a 12-month period are added together. The instructions also list receipts that are not reportable.
More IRS forms for employers and business owners, read line by line: Form 720 instructions.
What Form 8300 is and who must file
The form’s title is “Report of Cash Payments Over $10,000 Received in a Trade or Business”. The reporting duty is stated in the instructions: “Each person engaged in a trade or business who, in the course of that trade or business, receives more than $10,000 in cash in one transaction or in two or more related transactions, must file Form 8300.”
The legal basis is spelled out. “Section 6050I (26 United States Code (U.S.C.) 6050I) and 31 U.S.C. 5331 require that certain information be reported to the IRS and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN).” A business that takes in cash and also pays contractors may already be reading the 1099 rules on the Form 1099-MISC page, but Form 8300 covers cash received, not payments made.
Two special filers are named. “Casinos must file Form 8300 for nongaming activities (restaurants, shops, nightclubs, etc.).” “Clerks of federal or state courts must file Form 8300 if more than $10,000 in cash is received as bail” for a person charged with a specified criminal offense.
Key numbers at a glance
The dollar, day and year figures that matter most on this form are collected here.
| Item | As printed |
|---|---|
| Reporting trigger | “receives more than $10,000 in cash in one transaction or in two or more related transactions” |
| Deadline | “File Form 8300 by the 15th day after the date the cash was received.” |
| Record keeping | “Persons must keep a copy of each Form 8300 for 5 years from the date filed.” |
| Willful disregard | “A minimum penalty of $25,000 may be imposed” |
What counts as cash
The instructions define the word for this form: “The term “cash” means the following.” The list is short, and it excludes some common payment forms.
| Item | What the instructions say |
|---|---|
| Coin and currency | “U.S. and foreign coin and currency received in any transaction” |
| Monetary instruments | “A cashier’s check, money order, bank draft, or traveler’s check having a face amount of $10,000 or less that is received in a designated reporting transaction” |
| Personal checks | “Cash does not include a check drawn on the payer’s own account, such as a personal check, regardless of the amount.” |
The monetary-instrument rule depends on a defined transaction type. “A retail sale (or the receipt of funds by a broker or other intermediary in connection with a retail sale) of a consumer durable, a collectible, or a travel or entertainment activity.” A cashier’s check is also cash if “the recipient knows that the instrument is being used in an attempt to avoid the reporting of the transaction”.
The instructions also give meaning to the cash and currency wording: “The meaning of the word “currency” for purposes of 31 U.S.C. 5331 is the same as for the word “cash””.
The $10,000 threshold, related transactions and the 12 month total
The trigger, deadline and aggregation rules fit in a small table:
| Rule | Instruction text |
|---|---|
| Single or related transactions | “receives more than $10,000 in cash in one transaction or in two or more related transactions” |
| Deadline | “File Form 8300 by the 15th day after the date the cash was received.” |
| Installments | “you must report the multiple payments any time you receive a total amount of cash that exceeds $10,000 within any 12-month period.” |
| Recipient statement | “You must give a written or electronic statement to each person named on a required Form 8300 on or before January 31 of the year following the calendar year in which the cash is received.” |
Transactions between a payer (or its agent) and the recipient in a 24-hour period are related. The 24-hour period is not the only test: “Transactions are considered related even if they occur over a period of more than 24 hours if the recipient knows, or has reason to know, that each transaction is one of a series of connected transactions.” “A single transaction may not be broken into multiple transactions to avoid reporting.”
For installment payments the report date moves with the payment that crosses the line: “Submit the report within 15 days of the date you receive the payment that causes the total amount of cash to exceed $10,000.” “If more than one report is required within 15 days, you may file a combined report.”
When the 15th day lands on a weekend or holiday, “If that date falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, file the form on the next business day.”
E-filing and the late-return rules
The instructions open with a change: “Starting January 1, 2024, you must electronically file Forms 8300” when the filer is also required to file certain other information returns electronically. The trigger is a count of other returns: “You are required to file certain other information returns electronically if you are required to file, in aggregate, at least 10 information returns of one or more type, other than Form 8300, during the calendar year.”
Electronic filing goes through a named system: “Electronically file Form 8300 using the FinCEN Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) E-Filing System”. A hardship route exists: “You may file a request for a waiver from filing information returns electronically due to undue hardship.”
Late filing is defined broadly: “Failure to file timely includes a failure to file in the required manner.” “Forms that are late are subject to penalty.” Keep copies as well: “Persons must keep a copy of each Form 8300 for 5 years from the date filed.”
Penalties as the instructions print them
The civil penalty text reads: “You may be subject to penalties if you fail to file a correct and complete Form 8300 on time and you cannot show that the failure was due to reasonable cause.” “A minimum penalty of $25,000 may be imposed if the failure is due to an intentional or willful disregard of the cash reporting requirements.”
Structuring is addressed directly: penalties may be imposed “for structuring, or attempting to structure, transactions to avoid the reporting requirements.” “These violations may also be subject to criminal prosecution that, upon conviction, may result in imprisonment of up to 5 years or fines of up to $250,000 for individuals and $500,000 for corporations or both.”
Relief is available on the facts: “Reasonable cause relief is generally granted when the person exercised ordinary business care and prudence in determining their filing obligations but was nevertheless unable to comply with those obligations.”
What is not required, and which edition applies
The instructions list several receipts that need no Form 8300, including cash an agent receives from a principal and uses within 15 days in a second transaction that is reportable on Form 8300 or FinCEN Report 112, subject to the conditions the instructions set out. Four of the others are quoted here. “Cash is not required to be reported if it is received:” “By a financial institution required to file FinCEN Currency Transaction Report (FinCEN Report 112);” “By a casino required to file (or exempt from filing) FinCEN Report 112, if the cash is received as part of its gaming business;” “In a transaction occurring entirely outside the United States.” (The instructions refer to Publication 1544 for transactions occurring in Puerto Rico and territories of the United States.) or “In a transaction that is not in the course of a person’s trade or business.”
Voluntary filing is allowed: “Form 8300 may be filed voluntarily for any suspicious transaction”, “even if the total amount does not exceed $10,000.”
The edition read for this page is Form 8300 and the Instructions for Form 8300, both Rev. December 2023, which are the revisions irs.gov served when they were read on 2026-10-16. Check the revision printed on the form you are filing, because a later revision can change the filing system, the exceptions and the item numbers.
Businesses that take in cash often also deal with the 1099-K threshold for card and app payments, and with the small LLC business bank account page for where the money goes.
Common mistakes
- Counting only one payment. The instructions require reporting when a total of more than the threshold is received in any 12-month period for a single or related transactions, and related transactions include any in a 24-hour period.
- Treating a personal check as cash. The instructions say a check drawn on the payer’s own account, such as a personal check, is not cash regardless of the amount.
- Filing on paper without checking the e-filing rule. The instructions say failure to file timely includes failure to file in the required manner, and late forms are subject to penalty.
Related: Form 1099-MISC, 1099-K threshold, and business bank account for a small LLC.
Sources
- Form 8300 (Rev. December 2023), Report of Cash Payments Over $10,000 Received in a Trade or Business: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8300.pdf
- Instructions for Form 8300 (Rev. December 2023): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i8300.pdf
Read from the IRS documents linked above on October 16, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer, the account provider or the IRS is the right place to confirm anything consequential.