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Bringing Money Home

    Many educators will be traveling home this summer/winter with large sums of money to deposit in their home town banks. A question that sometimes comes up is do you have to declare the money to customs? Well the answer is yes, if the sum total of all currencies in your possession totals more than $10,000. It is not illegal to bring money in, it's just that you have to declare it. This includes U.S. or foreign coins, U.S. or foreign paper money, stocks, endorsed personal checks, travelers' checks, securities, or money orders. What we have done in the past is to divide the money up between family members, but even this is not allowed. If you walk the money in, the best strategy is just to declare it using the FinCEN 105 (formerly CF 4790) form. If the flight stewardess does not hand one out to you on the plane, you can just request one once you enter the customs area. Just remember, if you don't declare the money, they can confiscate it causing a headache for all involved.