Today I heard that an old guy brought 400,000 Hong Kong dollars into the country and was stopped.
Because he used the non-declared channel, and the money was packed in a suitcase, it was easy to be scanned out. In the end, he was fined 6%.
Previously, someone brought over 1 million without declaration and was fined 10%. So foolish.
The maximum fine is 20%, but if you cooperate voluntarily and the amount is not large, it's usually between 1-6%.
Actually, bringing foreign currency into the country has no upper limit. If an individual exceeds 5,000 US dollars, you can just use the declared channel. You can make an appointment through a mini-program or go directly on-site.
They won’t interrogate you; just fill out a form and get a stamp, and it’s done. You can take the paper to a domestic bank to deposit foreign currency, very convenient.
Customs will not collect taxes; the only possibility of tax collection is if the information is sent to the tax bureau, which may collect based on the source of funds in the future.
However, I haven't seen anyone receive a call from the tax office because of this. I heard that the current system only syncs with the foreign exchange bureau and does not actively provide information to the tax office, but the tax office can request assistance in retrieval.
Lastly, a fun fact: a 28-inch checked suitcase can hold 5 million US dollars.
