<prompt> Human: Last Christmas I received 5k cash from a relative who made it very clear to me that I could not deposit it into any banking account but could only spend it as cash. This year I have been made aware that I will be receiving a similar gift and I would like to place this money in some kind of interest bearing account but am unsure of what the repercussions would be. Edit:I was not looking for instructions on how to anything nefarious with this money as is being suggested.As uschwartzster pointed out, 5k is less than the annual gift tax exclusion and so its not about skipping out on taxes. I believe my relative may be unaware of said gift tax exclusion.Assistant: Um...your relative gives you 5k every year and you cant deposit it? Thats not shady.Human: They have a business thats recently grown, Im not involved with it but I imagine they have some creative accounting going on.  <response>: I was hoping it was one of those sort of Heres some money, you are required to do something FUN with it, this isnt for savings or responsible spending, thats what your earned money is for gifts. Like youd be required to use it for a vacation or a weekly massage appointment all year or something. 