Cash: How much USD can I legally carry on my person in the United States at any given time?
You “can” legally carry every dollar you own. The illegalities come up when you mess with reporting requirements.FIRST, if you enter the U.S. or depart from the U.S. with more than $10,000 in cash (or its equivalent - in Euros or gold bars or some other readily spendable currency) you must report the fact of what you are importing or exporting to Customs and Border Protection (on a convenient form an officer will give you; at land crossings you will undoubtedly see a sign warning you of the reporting requirements). Willfully failing to do so is a felony.As an aside to this, many other countries have similar reporting requirements, so when you land or leave, you may have to declare your cash when you arrive or depart that country. I’m told jail in some of those countries is a bitch.SECOND: if you deposit or withdraw more that $10,000 in cash (or its equivalent) from any financial institution (bank, credit union, brokerage house, casino, etc.), the institution is required to report the transaction to the Treasury. If you try to “structure” your transactions so the bank won’t know about your transaction and thus won’t report it, that, too, is a felony. Example: you want to deposit $18,000 in cash so you deposit $9,000 at branch A and $9,000 at branch B an hour or a day later. If willfully done to evade the reporting requirements, you are in felony territory.And my aside comment above applies here, too (as to deposits or withdrawals).Conversely, if you take a steamer trunk of cash to France and report the amount of cash in the trunk, or you take the same steamer trunk to the bank and deposit it all at one branch, you may raise a hell of a lot of eyebrows (including some in law enforcement), but you will not have violated any laws.THIRD, merchants have the same reporting requirements, so if you go pay for that Jag with your steamer trunk, the car dealer is obligated to report that transaction. The same rules relating to structuring apply to these transactions, too. Indeed, I have seen at least one instance where a law firm allowed a client to stucture the payment of legal fees. Also a no no.
How can I send money via Western Union without the receiver needing an ID?
No self-respecting financial institution would hand over cash to someone without being able to prove they’re entitled to the money !