Structuring, according to United States Code (USC) laws and regulations, is the attempt by one or more persons to avoid importation/exportation reporting requirements by partitioning a sum of $10,000 or more in currency or other monetary instruments, so that the divided amounts each fall under the reporting threshold. The law is designed primarily to combat criminal enterprises that traffic cash unreported to the IRS.
The official structuring law, as it pertains to entering or leaving the U.S with currency, 31 USC 5324 (c) (3), states the following:
“(c) International Monetary Instrument Transactions.—No person shall, for the purpose of evading the reporting requirements of section 5316—
(1) fail to file a report required by section 5316, or cause or attempt to cause a person to fail to file such a report;
(2) file or cause or attempt to cause a person to file a report required under section 5316 that contains a material omission or misstatement of fact; or
(3) structure or assist in structuring, or attempt to structure or assist in structuring, any importation or exportation of monetary instruments.”
The law says, that you can’t legally divide a sum of $10,000 or more in cash between two or more people in order to make it appear that you each are carrying individual amounts under the reporting requirement. A typical example of structuring involves a family of three traveling together with a sum total of, say, $17,000.
To avoid having to file a report for the $17,000, the family divides the cash amongst them: Dad carries $5,000, Mom carries $4,000, and Son carries $7,000.
