Administrative Rulings

Administrative letter rulings drafted by the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) are issued pursuant to our authority as the administrator of the Bank Secrecy Act, if the facts and circumstances, issues, and analyses that appear in an administrative letter ruling are of general interest to financial institutions then the letter ruling is published on our website. Published letter rulings often express an opinion about a new issue; apply an established theory or analysis to a set of facts that differs materially from facts or circumstances that have been previously considered; or provide a new interpretation of Title 31 of the United States Code, or any other statute granting FinCEN authority. A summary of the variety of regulatory releases, which also includes an outline of the effect of the various releases on financial institutions that are subject to the regulatory provision at issue, is available here [HTML | PDF]

| Depository Institutions, Money Services Businesses


FIN-2008-R001

Issued: January 25, 2008

Subject:Reporting of Certain Currency Transactions for Sole Proprietorships and Legal Entities Operating Under a "Doing Business As" ("DBA") Name

The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ("FinCEN") is issuing this…

| Depository Institutions, Money Services Businesses

Dear [ ]:

This letter responds to your request for an administrative ruling, dated June 16, 2007, regarding whether your client, [ ], should be registered as a money services business (MSB). For the reasons set forth below, we have determined that your client's business is not an MSB,…

| Depository Institutions, Money Services Businesses

Dear [ ]:

I am responding to your letter, dated July 5, 2007, to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. You have asked us to determine whether [ ] (the "Company") is a money services business, specifically a check casher as that term is defined in our regulations.

As you…

| Money Services Businesses

Dear [ ]: This letter responds to your letter dated [ ] to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) [Enterprise Computing Center - Detroit], which was referred to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network ("FinCEN") for response on [ ]. In your letter, you ask why [your business] is not listed on…

| Depository Institutions

Dear [ ]: I am writing in response to your letter of June 7, 2006 to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, in which you request an administrative ruling on behalf of [ ] that addresses whether the Bank Secrecy Act and its implementing regulations require corporate credit unions to file Currency…

| Casinos

Dear [ ]:
I am writing in response to your letter of November 18, 2004 to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network requesting, on behalf of the [Regulatory Office], an administrative ruling that interprets the Bank Secrecy Act requirement to report casino currency transactions in excess of…

| Depository Institutions, Money Services Businesses

Dear [ ]:
This letter responds to your letters, dated November 15, 2005 and January 25, 2006, in which you request guidance in the form of an administrative ruling on the proper completion of the Currency Transaction Report, FinCEN Form 104, when reporting a transaction made by or on…

| Precious Metals/Jewelry Industry

Dear [ ]:
I am writing in response to your December 21, 2005 e-mail to Director Fox and Deborah Silberman, requesting on behalf of your clients that we hold implementation of our interim final rule regarding dealers in precious metals, stones or jewels1 in abeyance for persons…

| Casinos, Depository Institutions, Money Services Businesses, Mortgage Co/Broker, Securities and Futures

Dear [ ]:
Thank you for your letter requesting our views concerning the extent to which financial institutions must establish programs to review currency transactions to detect and report “structuring” when the conduct does not require the filing of a currency transaction report. You also…

| Casinos, Money Services Businesses

Dear [ ]:
I write in response to your letter of June 6, 2005 to the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, in which you request guidance on whether casinos must comply with rules under the Bank Secrecy Act specific to money services businesses. Casinos and card clubs, as defined in our…