Treasury has released draft Currency (Restrictions on the Use of Cash) Rules 2019 to support the Currency (Restrictions of the Use of Cash) Bill 2019 that was introduced in the Parliament on 19 September 2019. Background.
The Bill was passed by the House of Representatives and was referred to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee which is due to report by 7 February 2020.
The Currency (Restrictions on the Use of Cash) Rules 2019 specifies the types of transactions that are exempt from the cash payment limit.
The payments not subject to the cash payment limit are:
- payments related to personal or private transactions (other than transactions involving real property);
- payments that must be reported by an entity under anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism legislation, provided, broadly, the entity with a reporting obligation complies (or is reasonably expected to comply) with their obligations under that legislation;
- payments made or accepted by a public official in the course of their duties where it is necessary for the payment to be made in cash for the performance of those duties and payments made or accepted by Australian government agencies where the payment is foreign currency produced for a foreign government;
- payments that only equal or exceed the cash payment limit because the payment is part of a transaction involving collecting, holding or delivering cash and this is undertaken in the course of an enterprise of collecting or delivering cash (i.e., providing cash-in-transit services);
- payments that only equal or exceed the cash payment limit because payment is or includes an amount of digital currency; and
- payments that occur in exceptional situations where no alternative method of payment could reasonably be used.
