**Your US friend generally would owe no federal income tax on the $150,000 if they receive it solely as your agent and must forward it to you.** But that tax conclusion does not make the proposed arrangement lawful under China’s foreign-exchange rules.

Assuming the money remains yours throughout, your friend has no right to keep or use it, and they receive no compensation:

- **Income tax:** The $150,000 generally is not their income. The IRS explains that funds received as an agent or conduit and passed to the intended owner are excluded from the agent’s income. Applying that principle here depends on the actual agreement and conduct. [IRS explanation of the agency principle](https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-wd/13-0037.pdf)
- **Form 3520:** Generally unnecessary for your friend because they have not received a gift. This form reports certain foreign gifts and foreign-trust transactions; foreign origin alone does not trigger it. [IRS Form 3520 instructions](https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i3520)
- **Form 709:** Generally unnecessary because forwarding your money is not a gift from your friend to you. [IRS gift-tax guidance](https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/frequently-asked-questions-on-gift-taxes)
- **Form 8300:** Not required merely for receiving or forwarding these bank wires. Wire transfers are excluded from “cash” for this reporting requirement. [IRS Form 8300 guidance](https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/irs-form-8300-reference-guide)
- **FBAR:** Receiving money in a US bank account does not itself trigger an FBAR. That requirement concerns interests in, or signature authority over, foreign financial accounts. [FinCEN FBAR requirements](https://www.fincen.gov/report-foreign-bank-and-financial-accounts)

Thus, **on those assumptions, your friend generally has no additional federal tax return to file solely because of the principal passing through their account.** Any fee they receive would require separate income-tax treatment.

The evidence matters. Your friend should retain the agreement establishing your ownership and their forwarding obligation, your source-of-funds documents, and a complete trail of incoming and outgoing transfers. Calling the payments “gifts” would contradict the arrangement you describe. If they actually were foreign gifts, Form 3520 could apply: the $100,000 threshold aggregates donors acting as intermediaries for the same person. [IRS Form 3520 instructions](https://www.irs.gov/instructions/i3520)

**The advice that this arrangement “shouldn’t be a problem in China” is unreliable.** SAFE expressly prohibits evading foreign-exchange quota and authenticity controls through splitting, including borrowing another individual’s quota. Sending three transfers to each of two US recipients does not remove that prohibition, and private agreements do not override it. [SAFE’s rules on borrowing quotas and split transactions](https://www.safe.gov.cn/en/2016/0113/775.html)

Before transferring, have a Chinese foreign-exchange lawyer or your bank’s compliance department determine the permitted route for your particular funds, and have your friend’s US tax adviser review the proposed agency agreement. Your own US tax obligations on the original earnings or gains are also separate from whether your friend owes tax for forwarding them.