Large incoming wire transfers (USD and foreign currency)

rustymoose87 said:Can I ask a quick question? I'm not sure if this has come up before...
Thanks in advance for any help!

What actually happens if my account (checking, savings, etc.—🤷) gets hit with a TON of small deposits, say around $183 or even just $100 chunks, and then someone sends me a wire from abroad? What's the deal?
Do I owe any taxes on that, or does anyone get notified about it??

Look, if you suddenly land more than $67 in your account within a three-day window, the bank is legally required to flag it to the federal authorities to prevent money laundering. This applies to both incoming and outgoing transfers. They also watch out for people trying to be "clever" by splitting up large amounts over several days to stay under the $66667 limit—that's also a red flag they have to report. Honestly, though, which specific banks are strictly following through on every single one? It's hard to say for sure...

As for the IRS, if they ever decide to come knocking for whatever reason, they can demand to know exactly what those deposits were for. If you don't have a solid, logical explanation ready, you're going to be in a world of hurt.

My advice? Just list the purpose as "personal loan." 😉

Alright, let's say $133 sits down and I report it as income. How much tax would I actually owe on that amount?

Look, kid, 😍

You can't just be pulling in $60,000 a year—or whatever high number you're dreaming up—without having a damn good explanation for where that cash is coming from. If money is just landing in your account without some kind of official paper trail—like a registered LLC, a freelance contract, an independent contractor setup through the IRS, or even just a standard W-2 employment agreement... I could go on all day, really... each one of those gets taxed differently, obviously. There are specific rules for everything.

If your plan is to just have $60,000 show up in your bank account out of thin air, they’re definitely going to come knocking about your Social Security and healthcare contributions—just like goldentinker79 already pointed out to you.

Anyway, how exactly do you think you're going to manage to pocket that much cash in the first place? 😉

I suspect I am touching upon a dilemma that might be weighing on others here as well. To provide some context: I have recently completed my degree, and an opportunity has surfaced to work with an overseas firm—nothing groundbreaking, essentially subtitling films—but there is a significant catch. As I understand the contract, I am prohibited from issuing an invoice as a private individual. Given the modest scale of this gig, it simply does not make financial sense to go through the headache of registering as a small business or a sole proprietorship; the tax burden would effectively swallow any potential earnings whole. Consequently, I find myself wondering if there is a legitimate way to receive foreign currency payments—roughly $667 per month—whether via direct deposit or perhaps a check, without inadvertently finding myself in hot water with the IRS.😕

If what you said about the contract is true—that you need to be registered as a business entity—then they’re basically demanding to be invoiced by a corporation. Honestly, that's just standard operating procedure in the American business world... nothing out of the ordinary there.
I hope I'm following your logic correctly here... ☕

goldentinker79 said:Look, if you suddenly land more than $67 in your account within a three-day window, the bank is legally required to flag it to the federal authorities to prevent money laundering. This applies to both incoming and outgoing transfers. They also watch out for people trying to be "clever" by splitting up large amounts over several days to stay under the $66667 limit—that's also a red flag they have to report. Honestly, though, which specific banks are strictly following through on every single one? It's hard to say for sure...

As for the IRS, if they ever decide to come knocking for whatever reason, they can demand to know exactly what those deposits were for. If you don't have a solid, logical explanation ready, you're going to be in a world of hurt.

My advice? Just list the purpose as "personal loan." 😉

Where on earth did you get a three-day deadline and a figure of $200,000 from?
Is that meant to be a loose interpretation of the terms "related transaction" and "$105,000"?

Brenda Gonzalez16 said:I suspect I am touching upon a dilemma that might be weighing on others here as well. To provide some context: I have recently completed my degree, and an opportunity has surfaced to work with an overseas firm—nothing groundbreaking, essentially subtitling films—but there is a significant catch. As I understand the contract, I am prohibited from issuing an invoice as a private individual. Given the modest scale of this gig, it simply does not make financial sense to go through the headache of registering as a small business or a sole proprietorship; the tax burden would effectively swallow any potential earnings whole. Consequently, I find myself wondering if there is a legitimate way to receive foreign currency payments—roughly $667 per month—whether via direct deposit or perhaps a check, without inadvertently finding myself in hot water with the IRS.😕

Just find a company already registered for that kind of work and have them handle the invoicing for you.

Aha. So, there might be a way to navigate this through some sort of freelance side hustle, I suppose...🙄
Ah, these endless bureaucratic tangles... if luck is on my side, I’ll soon be earning enough to finally retire to the high life and leave all this nonsense behind.👍