Carrying cash into the EU: the EUR 10,000 declaration

Yes, if you carry EUR 10,000 or more. Anyone entering or leaving the EU with cash worth EUR 10,000 or more must declare it to customs in the EU country they pass through. The EU’s Your Europe guide to carrying cash gives the amount as EUR 10,000 “or its equivalent in other currencies”. Below that amount there is nothing to declare. The rule has no link to EES or ETIAS: it applies to every traveller, passport or not.

Do I have to declare cash when I fly from the US to Europe?

If the total is EUR 10,000 or more, yes. The EU cash controls Regulation (EU) 2018/1672 says people who carry cash of EUR 10,000 or more “shall declare that cash to the competent authorities of the Member State through which they are entering or leaving the Union and make it available to them for control”. It has applied since 3 June 2021.

Your Europe says customs authorities “can carry out individual checks as well as checks on your baggage and vehicle”. The Regulation gives them power to control people, their luggage and their means of transport, under national law.

The rule works in both directions. It also applies when you leave the EU, for example flying home to the US from Paris or Amsterdam.

What counts as cash under the EU rule?

More than banknotes. The Regulation’s definition of cash names four things:

• currency, meaning banknotes and coins;
• bearer-negotiable instruments, which include traveller’s cheques, and cheques, promissory notes or money orders in certain bearer forms;
• commodities used as highly liquid stores of value, which Your Europe lists as coins with a gold content of at least 90% and gold bars, nuggets or clumps with a gold content of at least 99.5%;
• prepaid cards, although the Regulation limits these to the cards its annex lists, and that list is currently empty.

Add them together. A traveller carrying EUR 6,000 in banknotes and EUR 5,000 in traveller’s cheques is over the line.

What goes on the EU cash declaration form?

The Regulation says the declaration must give details of the person carrying the cash, with full name, contact details, date and place of birth, nationality and identification document number. It must also cover the owner of the cash, the intended recipient, the amount and nature of the cash, “the economic provenance of the cash”, “the intended use of the cash”, the transport route and the means of transport. It is made in writing or electronically on the EU form. You can ask for an endorsed copy. We have not opened the form itself, so check its exact fields on the day.

The declaration has to be correct. The Regulation says the duty is “not deemed to be fulfilled if the information provided is incorrect or incomplete or if the cash is not made available for control”.

What happens if you do not declare cash?

Your Europe says you “will be subject to penalties” if you do not declare, or the declaration is incorrect or incomplete. The Regulation leaves the penalties to each country, which must make them “effective, proportionate and dissuasive”. So we cannot give you one fine figure for the EU.

There is also a power to hold the money. The authorities may temporarily detain cash by administrative decision if the declaration duty has not been met, or if there are indications the cash is related to criminal activity, “irrespective of the amount”. Detention is limited to 30 days, and after an assessment of necessity and proportionality it can be extended to a maximum of 90 days. The person has a right to an effective remedy under national law.

Does the rule apply below EUR 10,000?

There is no duty to declare below the threshold. Your Europe adds that customs “will also intervene where there are indications that the cash is linked to criminal activity even if the amount is below the threshold”. If an officer asks what you are carrying, answer plainly.

What about cash moving between EU countries?

The Regulation applies to cash entering or leaving the EU. Your Europe says there are “no EU-wide rules on travelling with cash between EU countries”, and tells travellers to check with the customs authorities of the countries they depart from, arrive in and transit. For a US traveller on a Paris to Rome leg, that means checking the local rules, not assuming the EUR 10,000 rule is the whole picture.

What about the US side?

The US has its own reporting rules for money leaving or entering the country. We could not open the US Customs and Border Protection page (its site refused our request), so this article does not describe them. Check US government guidance before you fly.

Does ETIAS or EES change any of this?

No. ETIAS is a travel authorisation for visa-exempt visitors and is not in operation; the EU has announced no launch date, so there is nothing to apply for today. The Entry/Exit System registers non-EU short-stay visitors at the border. Cash controls are a separate customs rule that has run since 2021 and applies whatever your passport. Our guide to the one-way ticket question covers another border question where what you carry can come up, and the ETIAS status page shows where the launch stands.