A friend of mine who turns cars often (the guy who hooked me up with this buyer) tells me he just deposits the checks and if asked says it was for a car sale and he has never had an issue with taxes.

this is what i did 10 years ago when i sold a car for $35K. i just deposited the check.no one even asked anything other than the teller said the funds will be on hold for a few days. granted this was 10 YEARS AGO..
if using a check don't release the car until the check completely clears the bank, 10 BUISNESS DAYS.
if selling a car these days. the only way i would do it is thru bank transfer.

The bank doesn't give a crap about your taxes, that is your problem not theirs. The IRS does and when you fill out your taxes at the end of the year they do ask. You lie, your problem, not the bank's. However, the bank will have informed the IRS of your large deposit earlier in the year. You can roll the dice.

Your friend is in for a hard ride when the IRS catches up with him.

I have multiple banks and one in particular requires me to show my license when I deposit more than $300 in cash. I have dropped over more than 2 thousand in another bank and nothing said.

Apparently every bank has a different level of suspicious activity.

With people handing out fake money and the government stealing honest peoples money through the DEA or IRS it's kinda hard to say how I would sell a car these days.

Good luck

Regardless of your bank, the IRS, etc., accepting cash for the sale would be the best path for you.

In the past few months, I have purchased a vehicle for $37,000 USD and an enclosed trailer for $7,900 USD.

The vehicle seller would not accept any form of payment other than cash. Their bank scared them about counterfeit checks so it was cash only.

The trailer seller accepted a $1,000 down payment through PayPal but wanted cash for the balance.

For both the vehicle and the trailer, I met the sellers at their homes, we went to their banks where the bank staff verified the amounts were correct and that the bills were not counterfeit.

It's up to you, if you want to risk being out $55k down the road when the buyer's form of payment turns out to be a scam or not, it's your call.

You should admit you are only targeting one potential risk. There are many, as others have shared here. Ignoring any one of them is also a risk.
Pick your poison, and if poorly chosen, we will read about it in the newspapers.

this just in:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/ne...de80ad084b4835a2ea8170666af7d1&ei=15