Table 1. Structuring at a glance (United States).
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| What it is | Splitting or spreading cash transactions to evade a report |
| The line it avoids | The currency transaction report on cash over $10,000 (31 CFR 1010.311) |
| The law | 31 U.S.C. 5324 and 31 CFR 1010.314 |
| Maximum | 5 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000; 10 years and twice the fine when another US law is violated too, or illegal activity passes $100,000 in 12 months |
| Who reports it | The bank, on a SAR from $5,000; a money services business from $2,000 |
For a bank, finding the customer's purpose starts with transaction monitoring of cash.
A common misreading is that structuring is a crime only when the cash is dirty. FinCEN's customer notice answers it with John: $15,000 from selling his truck, paid in as $7,500 in the morning and $7,500 later that day, "hoping to evade the CTR reporting requirement". FinCEN lists it as structuring. Clean money matters for seizure: since 1 July 2019, the IRS may seize property for structuring only if it came from an illegal source or was structured to hide another crime, must try to notify the owners within 30 days, and an owner can ask a court for a hearing (31 U.S.C. 5317(c)(2)(B)).
On 11 January 1994, Ratzlaf v. United States required the government to prove the defendant knew the structuring "was unlawful". On 23 September 1994, Congress took section 5324 out of the willfulness rule in 31 U.S.C. 5322 that Ratzlaf applied.
What does structuring mean under the law?
31 CFR 1010.100(xx) defines it: a person, "acting alone" or with others, conducts cash transactions "in any amount, at one or more financial institutions, on one or more days, in any manner", to evade the report. No single bank or day has to see more than $10,000.
Picture $12,000 paid in as $6,000 at each of two banks on one day to avoid the report: structuring (illustrative).
Section 5324 also covers cash paid to businesses (5324(b)), the import or export of monetary instruments (5324(c)) and reports under a geographic targeting order.
How do the US, UK and EU treat structuring?
Table 2. Structuring rules by jurisdiction.
| Jurisdiction | Line that starts a report or a check | How split payments are caught | Offense for the split itself |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | Cash report over $10,000 | One person's cash per business day, all domestic branches as one (31 CFR 1010.313) | Yes, 31 U.S.C. 5324 |
| United Kingdom | No cash report; due diligence at £12,000, and at £10,000 for a high value dealer's cash (MLR 2017 reg 27, since 30 June 2026) | "Several operations which appear to be linked" | No; laundering offenses apply |
| European Union | Due diligence at EUR 10,000; identification at EUR 3,000 for cash; cash payments capped at EUR 10,000 (Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, from 10 July 2027) | Linked transactions: similar origin, destination and purpose | None in the regulation |
| FATF standard | Occasional transactions above USD/EUR 15,000 (Recommendation 10) | "Several operations that appear to be linked" | Not a law |
The US punishes the split itself. The UK and the EU count linked payments as one for due diligence. In the UK the laundering offenses do the rest: Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 section 327 (converting or transferring criminal property) and section 328 (arrangements).
What does structuring look like in practice?
FinCEN's notice gives four cases:
- John. The truck money, two $7,500 cash deposits on one day.
- Jane. $18,000 for supplies, two $9,000 checks cashed on consecutive days.
- John and Jane. $15,000 from a vehicle sale, split between their joint account and her sister's.
- Bob. $24,000 from illegal activity, wired through $6,000 cash purchases, "occasionally skipping days".
Bob shows why a daily total misses it. With illustrative dates, $6,000 on days 1, 2, 4 and 6 makes $24,000, yet no business day passes $10,000, so 1010.313 produces no currency transaction report. A rule has to look across days, as the structuring rule and its thresholds do. Instruments bought for under $3,000 also avoid the purchase record 31 CFR 1010.415 requires from $3,000 to $10,000.
What is micro structuring?
Micro structuring is a name for structuring in very small amounts. 31 CFR 1010.100 does not use the term, and its definition covers cash "in any amount". The FFIEC lists one form as a red flag: a person who "customarily uses the automated teller machine to make several bank deposits below a specified threshold" (FFIEC Appendix F).
Is structuring the same as smurfing?
Structuring covers one person alone or several together, and smurfing is the second form: several people, whom FinCEN's 2025 advisory calls smurfs, splitting cash together or for others. A ring of smurfs is always structuring; one customer splitting their own deposits is not smurfing. The smurfing entry follows the ring.
Which patterns point to structuring?
None is proof alone (FFIEC Appendix G and Appendix F):
- Just under the line, again. Cash "deposited or withdrawn in amounts just below identification or reporting thresholds".
- Second thoughts after hearing of the report. Reluctance "to proceed with a transaction after being informed that the report must be filed".
- An exemption request for reporting.
- Instruments in sequence. Monetary instruments "numbered sequentially", in groups totaling under $10,000 or $3,000.
- Safe deposit box visits before cash deposits at or just under $10,000.
- New accounts, small cash. Small deposits into accounts "opened for this purpose" (FinCEN advisory, 28 August 2025, p. 8).
From Ufuk Gürdaş, reviewer of this entry: "The strongest structuring evidence is usually a sentence, not an amount: a customer who asks where the reporting line is, or cuts a deposit after hearing that a report will be filed, has supplied the purpose the law requires, so the teller's note belongs in the alert and in the SAR narrative."
What does a bank do when a customer structures?
The FFIEC manual's example: $9,900 in cash on Monday and $9,900 on Wednesday. "It should not be assumed that structuring has occurred." Further review may be needed, of the account history among other things, and even if structuring has not occurred the bank should review the deposits for suspicious activity.
FinCEN's SAR FAQs of 9 October 2025 apply this to filing: deposits near $10,000 are not enough alone. A bank must file a SAR when it has knowledge, suspicion or reason to suspect they were designed to evade the report:
- Banks. From $5,000, alone or in aggregate (31 CFR 1020.320).
- Money services businesses. From $2,000, alone or in aggregate (31 CFR 1022.320).
The cash report is still due once a person's cash passes $10,000 in a business day, and the SAR itself stays confidential (1020.320(e)).
complead, formerly Sanction Scanner, offers transaction monitoring software whose rules engine replays a structuring rule over 30, 60 or 90 days of past transactions. With onboarding, screening, monitoring, fraud and investigation on one engine, a customer carries one risk score. The analyst decides whether to file.
Before the next structuring alert closes, a rule owner can check three things:
- Run FinCEN's four examples through your structuring rule.
- Check that the teller's note reaches the alert.
- Read last month's closed structuring alerts for what showed purpose.
Related terms
- Smurfing. Structuring by several people for one organizer.
- Currency transaction report. A bank's report on one person's daily cash over $10,000.
- Geographic targeting order. A FinCEN order setting its own reporting requirement.
- Money mule. Someone moving criminal money for another person.
- Suspicious activity report. A bank's report of suspected laundering or evasion.
