The EU AMLR €10,000 Cash Limit: What It Means for Retailers

From 10 July 2027 no EU business may take or make cash payments above €10,000. What counts as cash, how the €3,000 check differs, and what to do at the till.

Updated On November 02, 2026
The EU AMLR €10,000 Cash Limit: What It Means for Retailers

From 10 July 2027, no business in the EU may accept or make a cash payment of more than €10,000 for goods or services [AMLR Arts. 80(1), 90]. Linked payments count together. This is a ban, not a reporting threshold. It applies to every business that sells goods or services, not only to businesses with anti-money laundering duties. Lower national limits stay in force.

The limit comes from the EU's Anti-Money Laundering Regulation (AMLR), Regulation (EU) 2024/1624. The AMLR is the single EU rulebook for anti-money laundering checks, and it applies directly in every member state. Our guide to the EU AMLR and AMLA explains the wider law.

This guide is current as of 2 November 2026. Every figure below was read from the AMLR text.

What does the EU AMLR cash limit say?

A business may accept or make a payment in cash "only up to an amount of EUR 10 000" [AMLR Art. 80(1)]. The same cap applies in national or foreign currency. It covers one payment, or several payments "which appear to be linked". A €12,000 sale paid in three cash instalments of €4,000 is over the limit.

The limit works in both directions. A shop cannot take more than €10,000 in cash from a customer. A dealer also cannot pay more than €10,000 in cash to buy stock, for example second-hand watches or gold bought from the public.

Two kinds of payment are outside the limit [AMLR Art. 80(4)]:

PaymentDoes the €10,000 limit apply?
A business sells to a consumerYes
A business sells to another businessYes
A business buys goods or servicesYes
Two private individuals, neither acting professionallyNo
A payment or deposit made at a bank, e-money issuer or payment service providerNo, but amounts above the limit must be reported to the FIU

The FIU (financial intelligence unit) is the national body that receives reports of suspected money laundering.

What counts as cash under the AMLR?

Cash means more than banknotes and coins. The AMLR borrows its definition from the EU's rules on cash crossing the EU border [AMLR Art. 2(1)(43)]. That definition covers four things [Regulation (EU) 2018/1672, Art. 2(1)(a)]:

  • currency: banknotes and coins;
  • bearer-negotiable instruments: for example cheques or promissory notes made out to whoever holds them;
  • commodities used as highly-liquid stores of value: gold coins with at least 90% gold content, and gold bars, nuggets or clumps of at least 99.5% gold [Regulation (EU) 2018/1672, Annex I];
  • prepaid cards, but only types listed in Annex I of that regulation. That list has been empty since 2018, so as of 2 November 2026 no prepaid card counts as cash [Regulation (EU) 2018/1672, Art. 2(1)(f), Annex I].

The gold point matters for precious-metals dealers. A customer who pays with investment-grade gold bars is paying in cash, in the legal sense.

Card payments, bank transfers and online payments are not cash. They are outside the limit.

Who does the €10,000 cash limit apply to?

It applies to "persons trading in goods or providing services" [AMLR Art. 80(1)]. That is almost every business. A furniture shop, a builder or a car dealer is covered, whether or not the AMLR makes it an obliged entity. An obliged entity is a business the AMLR requires to run anti-money laundering checks, such as an accountant, estate agent or jeweller.

In practice, the limit bites hardest on businesses that have taken large cash sums before:

  • jewellers, watch dealers and precious-metals traders;
  • car, boat and aircraft dealers;
  • art and antiques dealers;
  • builders, renovators and other trades paid in cash for large jobs.

Several of these are also newly obliged entities under the AMLR. A trader in high-value goods is in scope from 10 July 2027 however its customers pay [AMLR Art. 3(3)(f)]. Our obliged-entity checklist helps you work out whether that includes you.

How is the €10,000 limit different from the €3,000 cash check?

The €10,000 limit is a ban on large cash payments that applies to every business. The €3,000 rule is a customer check that applies only to obliged entities [AMLR Arts. 80(1), 19(4)]. Below €10,000, an obliged entity can still take cash. But from €3,000, it must first identify the customer and verify their identity.

The numbers are easy to mix up. This table separates them:

AmountApplies toWhat it requiresSource
Cash above €10,000Every businessDo not accept or make the paymentAMLR Art. 80(1)
One-off cash transaction of €3,000 or moreObliged entitiesAt least identify and verify the customerAMLR Art. 19(4)
One-off transaction of €10,000 or more, paid any wayObliged entitiesFull customer due diligence, including sanctions and PEP checksAMLR Arts. 19(1)(b), 20(1)
Any amount, ongoing business relationshipObliged entitiesFull customer due diligenceAMLR Art. 19(1)(a)
Any amount, suspicion of money launderingObliged entitiesFull customer due diligenceAMLR Art. 19(1)(d)
Car at €250,000 or more, boat or aircraft at €7,500,000 or more, for non-commercial useHigh-value goods tradersReport the sale to the FIUAMLR Art. 74(1)

Three details sit behind this table:

  • The €3,000 rule does not apply in a member state whose own cash limit is already €3,000 or lower [AMLR Art. 19(4)]. There, cash above that national limit is banned anyway.
  • For dealers in precious metals, high-value goods and cultural goods, the supplier of goods also counts as a customer [AMLR Art. 19(6)(a)]. Buying stock for €3,000 in cash triggers the same check as selling it.
  • The EU authority AMLA could have set lower thresholds for higher-risk sectors. Its final draft standards, dated 30 September 2026, set no extra lower thresholds [AMLA RTS Art. 19(9) final report]. Those standards still need adoption by the European Commission.

Full customer due diligence includes checking whether the customer and its beneficial owners are subject to sanctions [AMLR Art. 20(1)(d)]. It also includes checking whether any of them is a politically exposed person (PEP), such as a minister or senior judge [AMLR Art. 20(1)(g)].

Do lower national cash limits still apply?

Yes. A national limit below €10,000 that already existed continues to apply [AMLR Art. 80(3)]. Member states had to notify those limits to the European Commission by 10 October 2024. A member state can also set a new, lower limit after consulting the European Central Bank [AMLR Art. 80(2)].

So the €10,000 figure is the highest limit any member state can have, not the one that always applies. Some member states set their own lower limits before the AMLR existed. Check your national rules, not only the EU figure. Your national tax authority or anti-money laundering supervisor is the place to confirm the current limit.

What should a shop do at the till?

Refuse any cash payment above €10,000, or above your national limit if it is lower, and offer card or bank transfer instead. That applies whether the cash comes in one payment or several linked ones. If you are an obliged entity, you also have checks to run below that limit.

A simple procedure for an obliged entity, such as a jeweller:

  1. Under €3,000 in cash, one-off sale: no identity check is required by the cash rule alone. Your normal risk-based checks still apply.
  2. €3,000 or more in cash: identify the customer and verify their identity before completing the sale [AMLR Art. 19(4)].
  3. €10,000 or more, paid any way: run full customer due diligence, including sanctions and PEP screening [AMLR Arts. 19(1)(b), 20(1)]. That includes a cash payment of exactly €10,000, which the limit still allows.
  4. More than €10,000 in cash: do not accept it [AMLR Art. 80(1)].
  5. At any amount: if something looks wrong, such as a customer trying to split a payment, stop and assess. An obliged entity must report suspicious transactions to the FIU, including attempted ones [AMLR Art. 69(1)].

Keep a record of what you checked and decided. Obliged entities must keep records of customer due diligence actions and decisions, including refusals [AMLR Art. 21(3)].

What happens if a business breaks the cash limit?

Each member state must take "appropriate measures, including the imposition of penalties" against businesses suspected of breaching the limit [AMLR Art. 80(5)]. The AMLR sets no EU-wide fine for this. Penalties are set in national law and must be proportionate to how serious the breach is [AMLR Art. 80(6)].

Frequently asked questions

Does the cash limit apply to online payments? No. Card payments, bank transfers and online payments are not cash. The limit covers banknotes and coins, bearer instruments such as bearer cheques, and certain gold coins and bullion [AMLR Art. 2(1)(43); Regulation (EU) 2018/1672, Art. 2(1)(a)]. Prepaid cards can be added to that list later, but none are on it yet.

What if a customer splits a payment to stay under the limit? Linked payments count together [AMLR Art. 80(1)]. Three cash payments of €4,000 for one €12,000 item break the limit. For an obliged entity, an attempt to split a payment can also be grounds for a suspicious transaction report [AMLR Art. 69(1)].

Does the EU limit replace my country's lower limit? No. Existing national limits below €10,000 continue to apply, and member states can set new lower ones [AMLR Art. 80(2)–(3)].

Does the limit apply when I sell my own car privately? No. Payments between private individuals who are not acting in a professional capacity are outside the limit [AMLR Art. 80(4)(a)]. National rules may still apply.

When does the limit start? On 10 July 2027, the date the AMLR applies [AMLR Art. 90]. Our EU AMLR timeline lists every key date.

Citations

The checks behind the cash rules

The cash limit is a payment rule. The customer checks around it are where most of the work sits for a dealer. At €3,000 in cash you must identify the customer. At €10,000 by any means, the full check includes sanctions and PEP screening of the customer, its owners, and for dealers, the supplier [AMLR Arts. 19, 20].

DeRisk Hub handles the screening part of those checks. It screens customers, beneficial owners and suppliers against sanctions, export-control and PEP list sources. It re-screens the entities you monitor as lists update, and records every decision in an audit trail you can show a supervisor. It is one part of a compliance programme, not the whole of one. Read how sanctions screening works, start your free trial (15 days, 100 entities, no credit card required), or go to DeRiskHub.com.

This article is informational and does not constitute legal advice. It describes the cash limit and related thresholds in Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 as verified against the legal text on 2 November 2026. National cash limits and penalties vary. Confirm the rules that apply to your business with your national supervisor or qualified counsel.