JVC urges e-filing to report cash transactions

New York--The Jewelers Vigilance Committee is urging members of the jewelry industry to electronically file their 8300 forms, as many in the industry still are mailing in these forms even though e-filing has been available since 2012.

The 8300 Form is the form sellers must submit to the IRS when they have a transaction in which they receive $10,000 or more in cash.

Suzan Flamm, senior counsel at the JVC, said that no matter how many times a year a seller files an 8300 Form with the IRS, they should learn to file it electronically rather than to submit it by mail.

Online filing is faster and more secure, she said, and might be mandatory one day. “If you have the technology available, please consider doing it,” she said.

Flamm said that electronic filing is the quickest way to report cash transactions to FinCEN (the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network), the Treasury Department office that reviews the reports. Delivery is immediate and sellers receive filing acknowledgments, which are their receipt, within 48 hours.

While no method of exchanging information is 100 percent secure, e-filing is more secure than regular mail, which can get lost, delayed or misrouted and end up in the wrong hands.

Flamm said the government’s e-filing system is “strongly encrypted and thus very protected.”

In addition, cash transactions submitted online are processed sooner than paper submissions, meaning information of potentially critical importance to law enforcement--regarding money laundering and terrorism financing--is reviewed and acted upon more quickly.

The reason the government seeks to track financial transactions involving large sums of cash is because of its potential relation to money laundering. This interest has become more pronounced in recent years because of the possibility that money being laundered is funding terrorism.

Flamm also pointed out that e-filing is becoming customary in the public’s interactions with the government and might become mandatory some day. “It is a good idea to be ready for that likelihood by gaining familiarity with FinCEN’s e-filing system now,” she said.

More information about e-filing and the enrollment process is available on this FinCEN website.

It is mandatory for retailers to file an 8300 Form whenever they receive more than $10,000 in cash in one transaction, or in two or more related transactions. Related transactions are defined as any transactions conducted by the same buyer and seller in a 24-hour period, or if