A homeowner pays a remodeling contractor $14,000 in cash for a kitchen. A wedding venue takes $12,000 in cash for a Saturday booking. A cosmetic practice collects $11,500 in cash for a procedure. Each of those businesses just triggered a federal reporting obligation that has nothing to do with income tax, and most of them have never heard of it.
The form is Form 8300, Report of Cash Payments Over $10,000 Received in a Trade or Business. Here is when you must file it and what happens if you do not.
The rule
IRC 6050I(a) requires any person engaged in a trade or business who, in the course of that business, receives more than $10,000 in cash in one transaction, or in two or more related transactions, to file a return. The return must include the name, address and taxpayer identification number of the person the cash came from, the amount, the date and the nature of the transaction.
The IRM describes Form 8300 as a dual-purpose form, required both by IRC 6050I and by 31 U.S.C. 5331 under the Bank Secrecy Act. One form satisfies both.
Note the words "more than." Exactly $10,000 does not trigger the filing. $10,000.01 does.
Financial institutions are excluded under section 6050I(c), because they report currency transactions under a different system. This obligation falls on ordinary businesses.
What counts as cash
The IRS's Form 8300 reference guide says cash includes the coins and currency of the United States and of any foreign country. Section 6050I(d)(1) confirms that foreign currency counts.
Certain monetary instruments can also count. Under section 6050I(d)(2) and the IRS guide, a cashier's check, bank draft, traveler's check or money order with a face amount of $10,000 or less is treated as cash in two situations: when it is received in a "designated reporting transaction," which the guide describes as a retail sale of certain items such as consumer durables, collectibles and certain travel or entertainment, or when the business knows the customer is trying to avoid the reporting requirement.
A personal check drawn on the customer's own bank account is not cash for this purpose. The statute says so expressly.
Cash received for services counts the same as cash received for goods. A contractor's labor, a venue rental and a medical procedure are all covered if the cash crosses the line.
Related transactions
You cannot avoid the form by splitting the payment. The IRS reference guide explains two aggregation rules:
- 24 hours. Transactions with the same payer within a 24-hour period are generally combined. The guide notes that a 24-hour period is 24 hours, not necessarily a calendar day or banking day.
- 12 months. Installment payments or previously unreported payments that are related, and that total more than $10,000 within 12 months, also require a report.
So a customer who pays a contractor $6,000 in cash at signing and $6,000 in cash at completion has paid $12,000 in related transactions. The contractor files when the total crosses $10,000.
Deadlines and paperwork
- Filing. The IRS guide says a business generally must file Form 8300 within 15 days after receiving the cash.
- Customer statement. Under section 6050I(e), you must give each person named on the form a written statement with your name, address, the phone number of your information contact and the total cash reported. It is due by January 31 of the year after the payment.
- E-filing. The guide says a business must e-file Form 8300 if it is required to file at least 10 other information returns during the calendar year. Form 8300 itself does not count toward the 10.
- Records. Keep a copy of each Form 8300, the supporting documents and the customer statements for at least five years from the filing date.
The form has a box for suspicious transactions. The IRS guide says a business may check it, and may voluntarily file Form 8300 for a suspicious transaction of $10,000 or less.
Structuring: the customer's problem, and yours
Sometimes the customer asks you to break a payment into pieces "to keep it under ten." That request is a red flag. IRC 6050I(f) prohibits any person, for the purpose of evading the Form 8300 requirements, from causing or attempting to cause a business not to file, causing a business to file a return with a material omission or misstatement, or structuring or assisting in structuring any transaction with one or more businesses. Violators face the same civil and criminal sanctions as a business that fails to file.
That includes the business owner who helps. If a customer asks you to accept $9,000 today and $9,000 tomorrow so you do not have to file, the right answer is that you will file regardless. We explain structuring more fully in our guide to structuring.
Penalties
Form 8300 is an information return, so the information return penalties under IRC 6721 and 6722 apply. For returns required to be filed in 2027, Rev. Proc. 2025-32 sets the general per-return penalty at $340, with reduced amounts for timely corrections.
The intentional disregard penalty for Form 8300 is much larger. For returns required to be filed in 2027, Rev. Proc. 2025-32 sets the penalty for intentional disregard of a return required under section 6050I(a) at the greater of $34,930 or the amount of cash received in the transaction, up to $139,500, with no annual limit.
Criminal exposure exists too. The IRS reference guide says sanctions for willful failure to file, or to include correct information, include a fine of up to $25,000 ($100,000 for a corporation), imprisonment of up to five years, or both.
Where this shows up in the industries we cover
The trigger is the cash, not the industry, but some trades meet it more often:
- Contractors paid in cash by homeowners for remodels, roofs, pools and additions, often in installments that add up across a job.
- Restaurants and venues that book private events, catering or buyouts and accept cash deposits and balances.
- Medical and dental practices with cash-pay cosmetic or elective services.
- Trucking businesses that sell a tractor or trailer for cash in the course of the business.
In each case the business, not the customer, has the filing duty. The customer's preference for privacy does not change it.
How the IRS checks
Form 8300 compliance is examined by IRS Bank Secrecy Act examiners, and the IRM includes detailed procedures for Form 8300 examinations and structuring cases. Form 8300 information also feeds income tax work. When a business that takes large cash payments reports gross receipts that do not support them, the IRS's income examination procedures, including bank deposit analysis, come into play. See our guide to bank deposit audits.
A simple compliance routine
- Train whoever takes payments to flag any cash receipt over $10,000, and any customer who pays in cash repeatedly on the same job.
- Collect the customer's name, address and TIN when a payment approaches the threshold.
- File within 15 days and calendar the January 31 customer statement.
- Refuse to split payments to avoid the form, and document that you refused.
- Deposit the cash intact so your bank records match your sales records.
If you discover past unfiled Forms 8300, talk to counsel before you file them; how you correct past failures matters. The firm's small business IRS problems guide explains how it approaches these issues.
Cash is legal. Large cash without the paperwork is the problem. File the form and keep taking the money.