The Currency Transaction Report — more commonly known as the CTR — is required to be filed online with FinCEN whenever cash transactions totaling over $10,000 occur on a single business day and are by, or on behalf of, the same person. Transactions might include deposits, withdrawals, cash advances, on-us check cashing, or loan payments performed by a member or a non-member.

The threshold can be met with one transaction or multiple transactions in a single branch visit, multiple branch locations, and various methods of transaction. The credit union should not aggregate transactions when calculating whether or not the triggering amount is met. In other words, if a deposit of more than $10,000 in cash comes in and the person also withdraws $3,000 in cash from a separate account of theirs, the threshold is met for the deposit and a CTR would be required.

The CTR is a pretty straightforward, fill-in-the-blank report that must be submitted within 15 calendar days of the date the transaction(s) occurred. Depending on your credit union's procedures, a CTR alert may trigger at the time of the transaction. If that transaction is in person, it can be a good opportunity for the teller or employee to review the data system and transaction to see if identification and other details on your member (or non-member) are needed before the person transacting leaves the credit union.

Most credit unions have an internal process involving review of the CTR report from your data processing system the next day by the BSA compliance officer. That daily report, which shows all reportable transactions from the previous day, is an important record to show the credit union is meeting its CTR filing obligations.

Credit unions who fail to file a CTR within the 15 day timeframe could face fines of $10,000 for missing the deadline, as well as further fines for each day a required report is not filed.

Make sure you know how the CTR function works in your credit union and get advice on how to proceed if you see alerts or transactions meeting the threshold, as well as what information you need to ensure is collected for non-member transactions that trigger filing.

Filing Exemptions

If your credit union regularly files a CTR on the same business or member, you can consider exempting them from the requirement. The exemption is filed on the DOEP form, and your credit union needs to review it annually to confirm that the member or entity still qualifies. If they don't, you simply start filing CTRs again. There is no additional filing to FinCEN to notify them of a change of status.

The criteria to be eligible to be exempt include:

• a transaction account for at least 2 months,
• at least 5 qualifying transactions a year,
• incorporated or registered under state or federal law, and
• an eligible business type.

The last requirement can be challenging since many cash-intensive businesses are not eligible for the exemption. Most Montana credit unions report they have few, if any, exemptions filed. Ask if you are unsure about your credit union.

Structuring

You should be aware that it is a federal crime to assist a consumer in "structuring" or changing a transaction to avoid reporting. If a member chooses to voluntarily change it, the staff person should let them and later report it to their BSA compliance officer for consideration of a SAR filing. 

To help frontline staff answer questions they may get from members during the CTR filing process, FinCEN developed a consumer education brochure. It has good examples to help you better understand what structuring is (and isn't).

We also learned that if your credit union references in a SAR about the brochure being provided to the consumer (if filed due to structuring for changing a transaction to evade reporting), it can allow the U.S Attorney's office proof for prosecuting the crime. Conversations that lead a teller to believe the transaction was intentionally changed can also be useful to prosecutors and should be noted.

Frequent Questions

While the CTR filing process is a pretty straightforward most of the time, situations do arise that are unusual or confusing. FinCEN has a thorough list of frequently asked questions available on their website.

The CTR FAQ document addresses common questions about the e-file system, record retention, occupation descriptions, and more. It should be your first resource when you have questions or a unique scenario to report.

One of the common areas of confusion is with joint accounts that have a triggering transaction involving only one of the account owners. Questions #23 and #24 at the link above cover that scenario and provide good detail.

Did You Know?

The reporting threshold for filing a CTR has been $10,000 since 1970. The inflation-adjusted value of that level would be $81,356 in 2024!

Donya Parrish, VP Risk Management | donya@mcun.coop | 406-459-3497