@Helen123 , assuming that you are a US person ( Resident for Tax purposes ) based on your earlier posts, , you filing form 1040 and that your husband is a Non-Resident Alien ( citizen of UK and having tax home in the UK ), your sending or receiving monies :
(a) if you transfer monies more than US$10,000, your bank will raise an SAR ( Suspicious Activity Report ) as a routine matter and then this will be dealt with -- nothing happens . There is no permission required or consequences ifd the amolunt is less than a Million USD -- beyond that amount there is a permission required. I don't know where you got this US$164K limit -- I have no recollection of a limit transfer between Husband and Wife or even between a US person and an NRA ( Non-Resident Alien ).. There is NO tax impact of sending monies to any-one, let alone between husband and wife.
(b) If you are receiving monies from abroad, then the only requirement is for filing a form 3520 recognizing gifts equal or above US$100,000 from a foreign person / entity. Generally this is not applicable to transfers between husband and wife, but the rub here is which has primacy ----- the Husband wife transfer or US Person and NRA. I would personally argue that a Husband -Wife has primacy and therefore there is no requirement to file form 3520 when the transfer is between Spouse , even if one is a US person and the other is not. ( because the latter -- US person & NRA -- is assumed to be a transient situation.
(c) If you accept my contention that this primarily a transfer between Husband and Wife, then there is no requirement for either party to submit form 709 and /or 4808.
In summary what I am saying is that there is NO reporting required ( for Federal tax purposes ) when the transfers is between Husband and Wife , irrespective of amounts and citizenship / Residency stati.
Is there more I can do for you ?
pk
