Filing of Reports Section 103.27
(a)(1) states "shall be filed by the financial institution within 15 days following the day on which the reportable transaction occured."

There is no definition of filing. One interpretation would be it must be received by their office within 15 days. Another is that it must be mailed within 15 days.

What is everyone else's opinion?

Thank you!

We have always interpreted it as we (the Bank) have 15 days to get the CTR out the door.

Anyone else with a different interpretation?

I concur. We have 15 days to get them out our door. I can't control the U.S. postal service!

I agree. However, be aware that examiners now have info on your CTR filings. We have a few clients that have had examiners criticize them because the CTR's were note RECEIVED by the 15th day! I understand the examiners don't know when you actually file, but they should allow a grace period of 2-4 days following the 15th day.

That was me that posted the question, sorry, I forgot to log in.

Yes, we are in the middle of an exam and this issue came up. They are leaning towards 15 days to be received not mailed, we have not yet finished discussing it but previously always felt it was mailed. We'll see how it turns out.

One other thing of interest to note is that with this new info the examiners have on CTR filings, they ask many more questions. The program they have must scrub it for a number of possible exceptions or questions. One example is at one of our very small locations, there is a convenient store that had one CTR for the year. They asked why there is not more for a convenience store. The answer is the volume at this small store.

Thanks for the help everyone!

I would hold my ground on the long stance that you have 15 days TO file. That has always meant to MAIL. You may be dealing with a green examiner on this one. Fifteen days can be tuff to meet, but could you imagine trusting the postal system to get it there within the 15 days?

They've always looked at our date of transaction and compared that to the date of preparation and accepted it at face value...so long as it was within 15 days.

It will be interesting to see how you come out.

This isn't my fight, but let me represent both sides, as I have argued this already.

The banker should be able to stand on the "15 days to drop it in mailbox" rule. There is no guidance in the regulation otherwise. If they wanted it "delivered" to the IRS by the 15th day, it would say that.

The examiner doesn't know when you mailed it, they only know when it was received by the IRS. If it was received on the 23rd day, are they to believe that you mailed it by the 15th day and it took 8 days to deliver?

As I stated above, some clients of ours have received criticism for this same issue. I have fought until I was blue in the face, but they aren't budging. I've suggested that bank start dating the CTR as of the date they mailed it and to also start sending a confirmation along to the IRS. This is extra work for the banker, but it's the only way to prove anything.

One client was being criticized because their Phase II exemptions were not received until March 23, 2002. The examiner was going to make them back file CTR's between 3/15 and 3/23 because the Phase II exemption would have lapsed!

I argued that the renewal was mailed on 3/7 (according to the banker) and that we can't help it if the IRS doesn't open their mail in a timely manner. Also, FinCEN is crying that there are too many CTR's already and now they want us to back file on a technical issue that is now exempt? They did drop this issue.

These examiners were from the FDIC's Kansas City region. They indicated that the Regional Office is pushing hard on the timing issue.

Additional info from this thread.

David has the right approach in fighting the criticism, with BSA you cannot afford to let it make it into the report. Richard's query to the examiner from the parallel thread, "Where does it say that?" is the correct approach. Examination protocol says that if you ask for a cite, you are entitled to it. If that fails, in the exit conference you indicate you disagree with their legal interpretation and ask that their point be analyzed by the review examiner. (They will not come back to you with a response, the goofy criticisms just don't appear in the report.)

Of all the complexity that BSA offers, this type of stuff trivializes the bank's responsbility. It's cheap foreplay for making banks use mag media or PACs.

P.S. I do believe banks should file CTRs as soon as possible and would question anyone who always waited to the 15th day, but is it a violation, No.

May we ask who your examiner is and what region you are in?

FDIC:Kansas City Region

These examiners are exceeding their authority under Part 103 and they need to be stopped before this disease spreads. (Remember "malicious compliance"!!) This is best done at the national level, not in an exit conference. Contact John Byrne at ABA and ask him if this problem has been (will be) discussed with the BSA specialists at all the banking agencies and FinCEN. If field examiners shorten the filing deadlines and regional offices back them up, the whole industry suffers higher costs and training problems. We need a clear statement that "the mailbox rule" applies to all the BSA filing deadlines.

In reply to:

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FDIC:Kansas City Region

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I knew it, I knew it, I knew it!!!

By the way, John Byrne's email address is jbyrne@aba.com

You have to file your tax forms with the IRS by April 15th - using this examiner's logic, that mean they have to have them in their office no later than the 15th. I guess that would shorten the line at the post office.

Perfect analogy! Nothing is nearer and dearer to the IRS than a tax return--CTRs don't even come close.

Why didn't I think of that!? Thanks for the Tax analogy. I will use that the next time I enter this argument (which will probably be sooner than later).