10,000 euros – the ceiling for cash payments in France for foreigners
According to International French Radio, violators face a fine of 5% of the amount, which will be split between the buyer and the seller. By the way, the new restrictions apply only to transactions where one of the parties is a legal entity. But this category includes, among other things, any payment in any store.
If the transaction is between two individuals, there is no payment ceiling – neither for foreigners nor for French citizens, but if the amount exceeds 1,500 euros, an invoice must be presented to confirm the payment.
The French government implemented all these changes at the behest of the organization Tracfin, which deals with anti-money laundering and is a structural unit of the French Ministry of Economy. Thus, the authorities want to strengthen the fight against terrorism financing, money laundering, and tax evasion.
However, officials say that most citizens will not even notice these innovations, because the volume of cash transactions in the country is falling every year. Today, according to the French Banking Federation, 49.5% of payment transactions in France are made by card, and cash payments are mostly made for small amounts. The average cash payment is 24 euros 30 centimes.
Foreign tourists know well how difficult it is to change 200 and, especially, 500 euro notes in French stores. For the vast majority of the French, the news that foreigners will be able to pay cash 'only' 10,000 euros instead of 15,000 is astonishing. The French do not go to stores with such wads of cash.
The fight to reduce liquidity flows has been ongoing in France for several years. At the beginning of 2014, a ban was introduced on cash payments over 300 euros for any state services in any state institutions – from the post office to the hospital. In addition, it is forbidden to pay wages in cash if the amount exceeds 1,500 euros. As we can see, the fight against cash will continue.
The Ministry of Economy has already announced that another measure will be introduced in January: all currency exchange transactions exceeding 1,000 euros in cash will be carried out only with identity verification. In addition, banks will be required to report to the ministry's anti-money laundering unit any operation involving the withdrawal or deposit of cash from or onto a card, as well as from or onto a bank account. In this case, the amount is over 10,000 euros per month.