26 U.S.C. § 6050I and 31 U.S.C. § 5324 prohibit structuring payments in order to evade taxes.  Anyone receiving $10,000 or more in cash must report this income to the IRS through Form 8300.

In a common tax structuring scheme, taxpayers would make multiple deposits under $10,000.  This way, they could avoid filling out Form 8300 and reporting the income to the IRS.

There are statutory penalties for structuring transactions to evade taxes, some of which are severe.  These penalties are found in 31 U.S.C. § 5324(d).  The penalties can include a fine under title 18 of the United States Code, imprisonment for up to five years, or both.  Additionally, if the tax structuring laws are violated while a person is “violating another law of the United States or as part of a pattern of any illegal activity involving more than $100,000 in a 12-month period” that person can be fined double the amounts in title 18, face ten year imprisonment, or both.