Most deposits never come close to this rule, because most deposits aren't cash at all.
Short answer
A payment becomes reportable under FINTRAC’s Large Cash Transaction Report rule only when it is cash — $10,000 or more in a single transaction, or two or more cash payments totalling $10,000+ from or for the same person within a 24-hour window. A deposit paid by certified cheque, bank draft or wire transfer, the way almost all real estate deposits are actually paid, does not trigger this report at all.
Per FINTRAC’s Large Cash Transaction Report guidance, the threshold is $10,000 or more in cash in a single transaction. “Cash” is defined narrowly: Canadian and foreign bank notes and coin intended for circulation. It explicitly does not include cheques, money orders, other negotiable instruments, or virtual currency — virtual currency carries its own, separate $10,000/24-hour report. This is the single most misunderstood point in the rule: a $50,000 deposit paid by certified cheque is not a large cash transaction at all, in FINTRAC’s terms.
The report is also required where you receive two or more cash amounts totalling $10,000 or more within a consecutive 24-hour window, provided you know the payments are from the same person or entity, on behalf of the same third party, or for the same beneficiary. This is the rule behind a case involving a single under-threshold deposit that turned out to be one of several linked payments — a deposit that looks individually safe is not automatically safe if it is part of a pattern. See the large cash transaction report, defined for the mechanics in full.
Once the threshold is met, the report is due within 15 calendar days of the day the cash is received — a firm deadline, unlike the “as soon as practicable” standard that governs a suspicious transaction report. See what actually counts as a reasonable ground to suspect for how the two reporting duties differ.
See also: what is a reasonable ground to suspect and large cash transaction report, defined.
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