Cashless Society

Italy May Ban Cash Payments Above $3,700 to Stem Tax Evasion

Most western countries have enacted cash transaction legislation that mandates the reporting of 'illegal or suspicious activity' involving cash. In Australia and the U.S., anything over $10,000 must be reported to regulators, and any amount under that that bank staff deem suspicious.

May 22, 2010

Bloomberg - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s government may seek to ban cash payments of 3,000 euros ($3,765) or more in an effort to reduce tax evasion, La Stampa reported today, without saying how it obtained the information.

Payments above the threshold will have to be made using checks or credit cards to allow money movements to be traced, the newspaper reported.

The government plans spending cuts and higher charges to reduce the country’s deficit by 28 billion euros by 2012, the newspaper said.