cashing USPS money orders-IRS

[debora66]

What is the name of your state? Texas
If I cash a USPS money order for $1000, that is issued by USPS, at a USPS facility, by producing my state issued driver license and signing on the back of that money order (no social security number is provided but the USPS person wrote down my driver license number on the back of my money order, below my signature) then will that be reported to IRS, and is there any way for IRS to know about this?

What if I do the above by cashing multiple $1000 money orders, one for every 2 weeks or so (i.e., for every two weeks, I cash $1000 money order in the same way explained above, for around 2 months, i.e., for a total of around $4,000)?


My former friend gave me these money orders several years ago but now I have no record to prove that, and she is no more now. At the same time, now, I do not want to get the attention of IRS.

 

[Just Blue]

What is the name of your state? Texas
If I cash a USPS money order for $1000, that is issued by USPS, at a USPS facility, by producing my state issued driver license and signing on the back of that money order (no social security number is provided but the USPS person wrote down my driver license number on the back of my money order, below my signature) then will that be reported to IRS, and is there any way for IRS to know about this?

What if I do the above by cashing multiple $1000 money orders, one for every 2 weeks or so (i.e., for every two weeks, I cash $1000 money order in the same way explained above, for around 2 months, i.e., for a total of around $4,000)?


My former friend gave me these money orders several years ago but now I have no record to prove that, and she is no more now. At the same time, now, I do not want to get the attention of IRS.

What leads you to believe that these money orders are still good? As postal money orders expire after a year it seem you are outta luck. Why did you wait so long to cash these?

My apologies...I was wrong. Thank you, @adjusterjack for the correction.

 

[adjusterjack]

Why the paranoia about the IRS?

Go cash them all, or just deposit them in your bank account.

 

[adjusterjack]

postal money orders expire after a year it seem you are outta luck.

According to the USPS website they never expire.

Money Orders | USPS

Scroll down to "How to Cash Domestic Money Orders."

 

[AlmostThere]

Possibly OP has a tex debt with levy on their accounts?

 

[Just Blue]

Possibly OP has a tex debt with levy on their accounts?

..or Child Support.

 

[adjusterjack]

Then just get the cash.

 

[Taxing Matters]

What is the source of the funds you are cashing? The instituion is required to report cash transactions that are $10,000 or more, whether in a single transaction or in a series of smaller related transactions. That is known as a currency transaction report (CTR). In other words, breaking the amount down into several small money orders doesn't get you out of the reporting requirement. Doing that is known as structuring and is one potential badge of fraud. That means structuring is a little more risky should the IRS discover it. If the total amount is less than $10,000, as you indicate, a CTR is not required, but a few institutions institutions do it anyway. I've never seen the USPS done for a single transaction under $10,000 but there might a post office out there that does. Regardless of the amount involved, if the institution cashing the check has reason to believe it's a suspicious transaction it has to report it.

If it's taxable income, you are required to report it as income regardless of whether the IRS gets a report from the institution that cashes the money order. Note if you are the one buying the money order, that too can be a reportable event. If you include it as income on your return then reporting the cash to IRS by the USPS won't be a tax problem for you. If it's not taxable income, you don't put that on your return and again there is no tax problem from a CTR/suspicious activity report. If you are trying to hide income, either from the IRS or from a child support agency be aware that if the IRS does catch it and you don't report it, you could be hit with 20% negligence penalty or a 75% fraud penalty.

If you describe your situation more fully and why you are concerned by the possibility of the IRS being notified, I might have additional comments to provide.

 

[AlmostThere]

Then just get the cash.

OP is concerned about IRS finding out in his first post.

 

[Taxing Matters]

OP is concerned about IRS finding out in his first post.

Yes. But the reason why the OP wants to hide the information and whether the source of the funds involved are taxable are significant facts to which we don't have answers.

 

[davew9128]

OP is concerned about IRS finding out in his first post.

I'm going to go with either paranoid schizophrenia or illegal activity.