There is no age limit for carrying money, but you cannot avoid your obligation to report the cross border movement of monetary instruments of AUD10,000 or more by having a child carry it for you. You can carry cash and non-cash forms of money for someone else, but you must declare it.
However, travellers entering and departing Australia must report any currency they are carrying of $10,000 or more in Australian dollars, or the foreign currency equivalent. Mailing or shipping currency of $10,000 or more in Australian dollars, or the foreign currency equivalent, must also be reported.
Bringing money into Australia
There is no limit on the amount of money you can bring into Australia. However, if the combined value of cash in the local or foreign currency you are carrying is equivalent to AUD$10,000 or over, it needs to be declared.
Countries/Regions from which a declaration isn't needed if you're travelling to Australia. Travellers from all countries are required to declare cash when entering Australia, if the amount is $10,000 (AUD) or more.
There are no laws limiting the amount of cash you can keep at home. This makes sense as many businesses, especially retail stores, keep large amounts of money with them merely as floating cash.
You must declare cash and non-cash forms of money in Australian and foreign currency if the combined value is AUD10,000 or more when moving it into or out of Australia.
You must submit a TTR to AUSTRAC for each individual cash transaction of A$10,000 or more. If you suspect your customer is structuring their transactions to avoid the TTR reporting threshold, or is transacting with proceeds of crime, you must submit a suspicious matter report (SMR) to AUSTRAC.
There's no limit on how much money you can give or receive as a gift! However, there are some occasions where tax may be payable, or capital gains tax (CGT) may apply. For example, when gifting property, shares or crypto assets.
$10,000 in one financial year. $30,000 over 5 financial years - this can't include more than $10,000 in a single financial year.
There is no gift tax in Australia (how your children may be affected is dealt with below), but if you're receiving the age pension or any other social security benefit from Centrelink, there are limits to the value of gifts that you can give. If you exceed those limits, it could affect your social security benefit/s.
To sponsor a relative to Australia, you must be a settled Australian citizen or permanent resident. You must also be at least 18 years old. As a sponsor, you must also have the ability to pay a security bond if asked by the Department. The amount for the security bond is discretionary.
If the amount falls within the free allowable gift limits, it will not affect your payment. The allowable gift limits are: $10,000 per financial year.
This includes cash deposits of 10,000 Australian dollars or more that you placed into your bank accounts in Australia or other financial institutions in Australia. When conducting an audit, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) can obtain access to any reports made to AUSTRAC about cash transactions of $10,000 or more.
You can fly with any amount of cash. No law prohibits you from bringing any amount of money on a flight. Likewise, TSA has no rules that limit how much money you can bring through security. In other words, TSA has no cash limit per person.
You must declare if you are carrying certain food, plant material or animal items. You can take these declared goods with you to the clearance point where they will be assessed by a biosecurity officer and may be inspected.
If you receive cash tips, you must declare them in your tax return at Allowances, earnings, tips, directors fees etc. If you receive your wages in cash, protect yourself. You need to check you are getting the correct amounts and be aware that your employer needs to pay super.
Income earned from overseas sources
If you are resident of Australia, you will be taxed on income earned overseas. This includes business income, international investment income, overseas employment income, foreign pension and annuities, or capital gains on overseas assets.
If you receive a gift from a foreign person, the gift is not subject to taxation. However, if the value of the gift exceeds certain thresholds, you must report it to the IRS. (It will remain non-taxable.) The thresholds vary depending on the source of the gift.
Technically speaking, you can give any amount of money you wish as a gift to one or more of your children or any other member of family. Some parents also choose to buy property and put it into their child's / children's name(s).
There is generally no gifting tax in Australia (though you may be subject to capital gains tax if you gift someone an asset, like a house) It is much simpler to give a gift than to set up a loan. A gift won't generally impact on the amount of the mortgage that a bank will offer your child.
Centrelink provisions allow you to gift $10,000 per financial year with a maximum of $30,000 over a five year period. You are free to gift as much as you like, no one can stop you, however, for Centrelink purposes the transfer of wealth beyond the amounts noted above will be assessable under a means test.
Under Australian law, you can give real estate to a relative as an outright gift. When giving ownership to a third party, there is no exchange of money. The gifting process involves filing a Transfer of Land with your title office. Filing a gift deed may also be necessary.
Who must file. Generally, any person in a trade or business who receives more than $10,000 in cash in a single transaction or in related transactions must file a Form 8300.
In Australia, banks are required to report any cash transactions of $10,000 or more to the financial intelligence agency, AUSTRAC, as part of their obligations under the Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006 (AML/CTF Act).
If you receive a cash payment of over $10,000 in one transaction or two or more transactions, you'll need to report it. You and the person paying you will need to provide the details of the transactions on IRS Form 8300. Keep this in mind if you're a business owner who accepts cash payments.