How to Fill Out and Submit Form 8300: Payer Notice and Penalties

If your business took in more than $10,000 in cash from one buyer in a single transaction or in related transactions, you complete Form 8300 in four parts — the payer, anyone the payer was acting for, the transaction itself, and your own business — then file it within 15 days of receiving the payment that crossed the threshold. Here is how to fill out Form 8300 correctly, submit it the way the IRS now requires, and handle the follow-up notice to the payer.¹

Before You Start: Confirm You Actually Have a Reportable Transaction

Cash on Form 8300 means more than currency. U.S. and foreign coins and bills always count. Cashier’s checks, bank drafts, traveler’s checks, and money orders with a face value of $10,000 or less also count as cash when they arrive in a designated reporting transaction, or in any transaction where you know or suspect the buyer is trying to dodge the reporting threshold.²

A designated reporting transaction is a retail sale of a consumer durable good (tangible personal property expected to last at least a year and priced above $10,000), a collectible such as artwork, rugs, antiques, gems, or coins, or travel and entertainment where the total price exceeds $10,000.² Personal checks drawn on the buyer’s own account are not cash. Neither are cashier’s checks, money orders, or traveler’s checks with a face value over $10,000. Wire transfers are excluded entirely.

You also need to check for related payments. Two or more payments from the same buyer are combined when they occur within 24 hours of each other, or when they are part of a single or connected transaction within a 12-month period.³ The 24-hour window runs clock to clock, not calendar day to calendar day. Once cumulative payments cross $10,000, the 15-day clock starts on the day of the payment that pushed you over.¹

Gather what you will need before opening the form: photo identification for the person paying, their taxpayer identification number or Social Security number, and the transaction date, amount, and purpose. The form itself is a fillable PDF on IRS.gov.⁴

Part I: The Person Who Handed You the Cash

Enter the full legal name, date of birth, address, occupation or line of business, and taxpayer identification number of the individual who physically delivered the payment. You also describe the ID document they presented: the type, the issuing authority, and the document number.⁴

If more than one person delivered the cash, check the box at line 2 and complete a separate Form 8300 for each additional individual.⁵

Part II: The Person the Payer Was Acting For

Complete Part II only when the person who handed you cash was acting as an agent for someone else, and you know or have reason to know that. Enter the principal’s name, address, TIN, and identifying document details in items 16 through 27. If the principal is an organization rather than an individual, put the business name in item 16 and the EIN in item 19.⁵

If the person paying is also the beneficial party, leave Part II blank.

Part III: The Transaction

Record the date you received the cash and the total amount. Break the total down by instrument: U.S. currency, foreign currency, cashier’s checks, money orders, bank drafts, and traveler’s checks. The form asks separately for the amount in $100 bills or larger. For foreign currency, list the country of origin.

Item 33 has checkboxes for the type of transaction — personal property purchased, real property purchased, services provided, debt paid, exchange of cash, bail received, and others.⁴ Pick the one that fits and add a brief description of the specific transaction.

Part IV: Your Business

Enter your business name, EIN, address, and a clear description of what you do. Use something specific such as “automobile dealer” or “jewelry retailer,” not vague terms like “store” or “business.” Sole proprietors enter their SSN and, if applicable, their EIN.⁵ An authorized person signs at item 42, declaring under penalty of perjury that the information is true and complete.⁴

When to Check Box 1b for a Suspicious Transaction

Box 1b at the top of the form flags a transaction as suspicious. Check it when it looks like the buyer is trying to prevent you from filing, is pushing you toward an incomplete or false report, or shows any other sign of possible illegal activity.⁶

You can also file voluntarily for suspicious transactions under $10,000. No threshold applies when you are flagging suspected illegal conduct. Forms marked suspicious are confidential, and the IRS instructs businesses never to tell the parties that a suspicious filing was made.⁶

How to Submit the Form

Since January 1, 2024, you must e-file Form 8300 if your business is required to e-file other information returns such as 1099s or W-2s. That mandate applies when you file 10 or more total information returns (other than Form 8300) during the calendar year.¹ Most businesses with employees hit that number easily.

E-filing goes through FinCEN’s Bank Secrecy Act E-Filing System, which requires a free account.⁷ The system returns a confirmation of receipt, which is your proof of timely filing. If you file on paper when e-filing is required and you don’t have a waiver or religious exemption, the IRS treats the return as late.¹

Businesses that file fewer than 10 other information returns per year may still file on paper. Mail the completed form to:

Internal Revenue Service
The Rosa Parks Federal Building
P.O. Box 32621
Detroit, MI 48232¹

Send the Payer a Written Statement by January 31

Filing with the IRS is only half of the job. By January 31 of the year after the cash payment, you must send a written statement to every person named on a filed Form 8300.⁶ The statement must include:

Your business name and address
A contact person’s name and phone number
The total reportable cash received from that person during the 12-month period
A notice that the information was furnished to the IRS

Do not send this statement if you checked box 1b. Suspicious filings are confidential, and notifying the payer would defeat the purpose.⁶

Keep Copies for Five Years

Retain a copy of every filed Form 8300, along with any mailing or e-filing receipts, for five years from the date of filing.¹ Hold onto copies of the identification documents the payer presented as well. If the IRS asks about a return, the backup should be at hand rather than reconstructed from memory.

What Late or Missing Filings Cost

Civil penalties for information returns scale with lateness, starting at $60 per return within 30 days and rising to $340 per return after August 1 or if never filed.⁸ Form 8300 carries a heavier intentional-disregard penalty than most information returns. When a business deliberately ignores the requirement, the penalty for each return is the greater of $25,000 or the amount of cash involved, up to $100,000, with no annual cap.⁹

A willful failure to file is a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $25,000, or $100,000 for a corporation.¹⁰ Willful means a voluntary, intentional violation of a known legal duty, not a bookkeeping mistake.

One boundary worth naming: if a customer breaks up payments to keep each one under $10,000, that is structuring under 31 U.S.C. § 5324, and any employee who knowingly helps arrange it faces separate criminal exposure.¹¹ When you spot that pattern, file the form and check box 1b.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Form 8300 and Reporting Cash Payments of Over $10,000
2
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Form 8300 Reference Guide
3
Internal Revenue Service. Understand How to Report Large Cash Transactions
4
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Form 8300 – Report of Cash Payments Over $10,000 Received in a Trade or Business
5
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 8300
6
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Form 8300 Reference Guide
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Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. FinCEN Announces Electronic Filing for Form 8300
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Internal Revenue Service. Information Return Penalties
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 6721 – Failure to File Correct Information Returns
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 7203 – Willful Failure to File Return, Supply Information, or Pay Tax
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 USC 5324 – Structuring Transactions to Evade Reporting Requirement Prohibited