Reported by Andrew Isbester

The US government issued a rule that will soon make it more difficult to use cash when buying property. 

American Dream

However, a major, unfettered bastion of the anonymous cash-for-homes faction has now been felled, as a message sent overnight by the US Treasury Financial Crime Enforcement Network (FinCEN) shows. 

A newly finalized rule will take effect at the end of 2025 that requires all «non-financed» transactions to be accompanied by a SAR. It is valid for all purchases of residential property that are not financed, including those transferred to a legal entity or a trust regardless of purchase price or value. Gifts are also subject to it although there are several standard exemptions related to death, divorce, and bankruptcy.

Long Time Coming

The real surprise here is why it has taken so long, given the US almost singlehandedly invented the modern financial crime sphere with the 1970 Banking Secrecy Act. The term money laundering itself even reputedly first started to be used during the Watergate scandal later that same decade.

Back then, the act required cash deposits of more than $10,000 to be reported, a threshold and standard that remains unchanged and unchallenged to this day, with updates and revisions to those initial laws prompting the rest of the world to eventually follow suit, willingly or unwillingly.

University Dorm Rooms

Interestingly, transfers made directly to an individual are not covered by the rule and that is likely to be of relief to many in the region, given that the buying of property for studious relatives and progeny in places like Vancouver, Sydney, and the UK has been a widespread practice for decades.

You can be almost certain that law firms have already been commissioned to look at whether there are any grey areas or discrepancies between the gift requirement and the transfer exemption.

Read full report: https://www.finews.asia/finance/41918-uhnw-hnw-financial-crime-cash-property