best country for cash

[Evi]

Hi!

Which country in Europe apart from Andorra and Switzerland are the best for cash transactions?
I need a country that would allow the highest threshold to conduct business transactions in cash.
I heard that Netherlands are also good but do not know for sure if that is so.
The business is legal, but a company would be selling expensive goods for cash and need to chose where it is best to set up a company.

 

[Sols]

In theory, there are no limits in several EU/EEA countries. Reporting obligations may kick in. But despite no specific limits in for example Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Luxembourg, consumer tendencies are towards cashless payments. So if you run a cash heavy business and walk into a bank with bags of cash, the bank will probably refuse to take the cash until every single bill can be traced back to specific buyer and specific transaction.

Germany, Austria, and Hungary may be your best bet.

Limits and reporting obligations are usually based on where the transaction takes place, not where you are incorporated. So if you form a company in Austria but sell to a customer in Italy and take cash from them in Italy, the Italian limit of 1,000 EUR probably kicks in.

Cash is still popular in other parts of Europe (or nearby region), such as Montenegro, Serbia, and Turkey. Turkish and Serbian banks will barely ask any questions at all if you deposit cash, especially foreign currency. Montenegrin banks will ask but aren't nearly as picky as in EU.

 

[jafo]

I heard that Netherlands are also good but do not know for sure if that is so.

Do NOT transact in the Netherlands. You'll lose ALL your money! I know plenty of people who have fallen victim to the Double Dutch gimmick. It's only applicable to multinationals.

 

[Evi]

Do NOT transact in the Netherlands. You'll lose ALL your money! I know plenty of people who have fallen victim to the Double Dutch gimmick. It's only applicable to multinationals.

What do you mean by Double Dutch gimmick?

In theory, there are no limits in several EU/EEA countries. Reporting obligations may kick in. But despite no specific limits in for example Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Luxembourg, consumer tendencies are towards cashless payments. So if you run a cash heavy business and walk into a bank with bags of cash, the bank will probably refuse to take the cash until every single bill can be traced back to specific buyer and specific transaction.

Germany, Austria, and Hungary may be your best bet.

Limits and reporting obligations are usually based on where the transaction takes place, not where you are incorporated. So if you form a company in Austria but sell to a customer in Italy and take cash from them in Italy, the Italian limit of 1,000 EUR probably kicks in.

Cash is still popular in other parts of Europe (or nearby region), such as Montenegro, Serbia, and Turkey. Turkish and Serbian banks will barely ask any questions at all if you deposit cash, especially foreign currency. Montenegrin banks will ask but aren't nearly as picky as in EU.

How much cash can you put in a bank account in Hungary?

Could you please specify which EU/EEA countries have no limits?

 

[jafo]

What do you mean by Double Dutch gimmick?

 

[Sols]

How much cash can you put in a bank account in Hungary?

Checked my notes again and seems there is a limit of 1.5 million HUF per transaction.

If that works for you, establish a good relationship with the bank and let them know what to expect from you.

Could you please specify which EU/EEA countries have no limits?

Netherlands, Luxembourg, Austria, Iceland, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Ireland, Finland, Estonia, and Cyprus.

This list is about a year old, so check if things have changed.

 

[Simon4466]

View attachment 5423

This has not been relevant for years... NL is no longer needed for this specific scheme. It could still be useful due to their special types of companies (c.v., stak, UA, etc.) as well as other types of strategies.

In NL tho there is a difference between the legal limit and the actual limit set by the bank. If you think that you could open an account to only transact in cash I think your chances would be around 0.000001%. All big banks get upset if you have a high percentage of cash income (you will pay additional fees etc.), and there will be a lot of increased compliance screenings until they kick you out when they notice you will not change your ways.

 

[jafo]

This has not been relevant for years... NL is no longer needed for this specific scheme. It could still be useful due to their special types of companies (c.v., stak, UA, etc.) as well as other types of strategies.

In NL tho there is a difference between the legal limit and the actual limit set by the bank. If you think that you could open an account to only transact in cash I think your chances would be around 0.000001%. All big banks get upset if you have a high percentage of cash income (you will pay additional fees etc.), and there will be a lot of increased compliance screenings until they kick you out when they notice you will not change your ways.

My point stands!
Once a traitor/grifter/thief, ALWAYS a traitor/grifter/thief. The methods may change, but in the end, the results will ALWAYS be the same.

Bad business with bad people = ALWAYS bad business.
Bad business with good people = ALWAYS bad business.
Good business with bad people = Always bad business.
Good business with good people = ALWAYS good business.

If you need a contract for people to behave correctly, you are doing business with the WRONG people!

Of course, YMMV!

 

[JimBeam]

Couple years ago I was in Mango store in the Netherlands.
I picked 2-3 items and the bill was 100 EUR (or 99.97 or so).
I hand over the 100 EUR bill and the guy working there says he can't accept it!
(It's because ATMs will give you only 50 EUR bills and 100 EUR bills are already "suspicious" LOL.)
I also had 2x50 EUR bills with me so asked him is 2x50 EUR okay - and he said "Yes, that's fine".

That's how paranoid are they wen it comes to cash.
You can't pay 100 EUR bill with 100 EUR bank note.

 

[jafo]

Couple years ago I was in Mango store in the Netherlands.
I picked 2-3 items and the bill was 100 EUR (or 99.97 or so).
I hand over the 100 EUR bill and the guy working there says he can't accept it!
(It's because ATMs will give you only 50 EUR bills and 100 EUR bills are already "suspicious" LOL.)
I also had 2x50 EUR bills with me so asked him is 2x50 EUR okay - and he said "Yes, that's fine".

That's how paranoid are they wen it comes to cash.
You can't pay 100 EUR bill with 100 EUR bank note.

This blew my f*cking mind! Thank you for sharing! Now, I know and will be prepared.

 

[JohnnyDoe]

Couple years ago I was in Mango store in the Netherlands.
I picked 2-3 items and the bill was 100 EUR (or 99.97 or so).
I hand over the 100 EUR bill and the guy working there says he can't accept it!
(It's because ATMs will give you only 50 EUR bills and 100 EUR bills are already "suspicious" LOL.)
I also had 2x50 EUR bills with me so asked him is 2x50 EUR okay - and he said "Yes, that's fine".

That's how paranoid are they wen it comes to cash.
You can't pay 100 EUR bill with 100 EUR bank note.

In such situation it would be morally right to pay with fake bills.

 

[JackAlabama]

Couple years ago I was in Mango store in the Netherlands.
I picked 2-3 items and the bill was 100 EUR (or 99.97 or so).
I hand over the 100 EUR bill and the guy working there says he can't accept it!
(It's because ATMs will give you only 50 EUR bills and 100 EUR bills are already "suspicious" LOL.)
I also had 2x50 EUR bills with me so asked him is 2x50 EUR okay - and he said "Yes, that's fine".

That's how paranoid are they wen it comes to cash.
You can't pay 100 EUR bill with 100 EUR bank note.

well its netherlands... no surprise.

 

[jesuschrist]

How much cash can you put in a bank account in Hungary?

There is no limit of course, there are companies depositing billions of cash every day to their bank accounts.
But if you deposit more than 2000 banknotes at once banks usually charge higher fees (about 0.50%).
Of course after a limit the bank will start asking questions, but if you can prove everything they won't interfere in your business further.

To withdraw more than 100k EUR usually you have to call your bank 1 day before.
You can also deposit through ATMs but the limit per deposit is 4 million HUF (10k EUR) and the number of max bank notes 50-200 (depending on the bank).

Checked my notes again and seems there is a limit of 1.5 million HUF per transaction.

Chinese people carrying 200m HUF (0.5m EUR) in bags to buy real estate all in cash is a common sight in Budapest.

There is a 1.5m HUF cash limit between companies, this limit doesn't apply to personal purchases or companies' cash deposits to banks.
So if your business sells products for cash to people all is good, if you want to transact in cash with other companies Hungary won't work for you.

 

[JimBeam]

In such situation it would be morally right to pay with fake bills.

The guy checked my 50 EUR bills to see if they were fakes using machine before putting these in cash register.
And this took place before COVID (so like 4 years ago or so).

About Hungary:
I used to see a lot of Russians in Hungarian banks opening accounts (especially in MKB Bank) even before covid and war.
I haven't been there lately but I could just imagine the scale of it right now.

There are even clerks at banks that knew Russian language to accommodate the clients.
Cash never an issue there but in many cases bank would charge you fees for handling cash (deposits/withdrawals).

 

[jesuschrist]

About Hungary:
I used to see a lot of Russians in Hungarian banks opening accounts (especially in MKB Bank) even before covid and war.
I haven't been there lately but I could just imagine the scale of it right now.

There are even clerks at banks that knew Russian language to accommodate the clients.
Cash never an issue there but in many cases bank would charge you fees for handling cash (deposits/withdrawals).

That is true, MKB Bank was very popular among offshore companies, the central bank fined them almost every year because of that.
3 big banks in Hungary (MKB Bank, FHB Bank, Budapest Bank) merged into one new large bank called MBH Bank, it's still early to tell but looks like that new bank doesn't want to open accounts for foreign companies.

A Russian owned bank called Sberb Bank was commonly used to open accounts for foreign companies too, but after the war they went bankrupt.
People were compensated in 10 days by OBA up to 100k EUR, and I heard the bank also compensated most of their customers later to the full amount.