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Rounding to the Nickel: How Cash Totals Work Without Pennies
The arithmetic is easy. Everything around it is paperwork.
New pennies stopped arriving in November 2025. Prices did not politely start ending in zero and five. So many registers now round your cash total to the nearest nickel. Here is how that works, and who writes the rules.
Quick answer: When a business has no pennies for change, Treasury guidance says it may round the final cash total to the nearest five cents. The usual method rounds totals ending in 1, 2, 6 or 7 cents down, and 3, 4, 8 or 9 up. Tax is figured first, on the exact price. Card payments are not rounded. Some states and cities set their own rules.
The rule itself
Treasury’s penny FAQ, updated December 23, 2025, is non-binding guidance. It says businesses should keep giving penny change while they have it. When they don’t, they may round the final cash total to the nearest five cents, as long as they do it fairly, consistently and transparently. Rounding happens only after all duties, fees and taxes are added. Checks, cards, gift cards and government checks still settle to the exact cent.
The method almost everyone means is called symmetrical rounding. The National Conference of State Legislatures recommends it, and Richmond Fed economists used it in their estimate. Endings of 1, 2, 6 and 7 go down. Endings of 3, 4, 8 and 9 go up. Endings of 0 and 5 stay put.
There is one odd corner. NCSL notes that a total of exactly one or two cents “might be rounded up” to five cents, rather than down to nothing. So whether a one-cent purchase is free depends on who is rounding.
Worked examples
$4.97 in cash. It ends in 7, so it rounds down to $4.95. Pay with a $5 bill and get a nickel back.
$4.98 in cash. It ends in 8, so it rounds up to $5.00. No change, which is at least easy to count.
$8.63 with tax. This one comes from NCSL’s own report: a few items, 6 percent tax on the taxable ones, $0.26 in tax, $8.63 total. Pay cash and the total rounds up to $8.65. The tax is still $0.26. NCSL treats the extra two cents as income to the seller. When a total rounds down, the seller still owes the full tax and eats the difference.
The same $8.63 on a debit card. You pay $8.63. Electronic payments are not rounded.
$10.92, split. Pay $10 on a card and the rest in cash. Washington’s new law says rounding applies only to the cash portion, so the 92 cents ends in 2 and rounds down to 90 cents. The card charge stays exactly $10.00.
You brought pennies. NCSL says a customer with exact change, pennies included, would still be allowed to pay the exact amount. Washington writes that right into its law. Your jar still works.
Sales tax and receipts
The tax never gets rounded to the nickel. Washington’s law says sellers must calculate and remit taxes on the sales price before any rounding, and that the rounding applies only to the payment tendered. Treasury expects sales tax to keep being based on the exact total too, though each state makes its own tax rules.
Receipts are up to the business. Treasury says each business decides whether to update its registers, and that an updated point-of-sale system can show the rounding adjustment on the receipt, which it calls better for transparency. NCSL reported that retailers expected system updates to take six to nine months.
Which places have rules
As of May 5, 2026, NCSL counted eight states that had enacted penny bills that year: Alabama, Arizona, Idaho, Indiana, New Mexico, Oregon, Virginia and Washington. Most either require or recommend symmetrical rounding, generally for cash only. A federal bill, the Common Cents Act, was stalled.
Washington’s version is the most detailed one we read. Substitute House Bill 2334 was signed March 23, 2026, and took effect June 11, 2026. It lets sellers round in-person cash payments, but does not require it. It overrides local rules that restrict rounding, and it says a rounded total that differs from an advertised price is not a claim under the state consumer protection act.
Utah went the guidance route. NCSL reports that its Division of Consumer Protection recommended symmetrical rounding after taxes, and published a flyer stores can post so customers know what is going on.
New York City went the other direction. Its consumer protection department says businesses may round a cash total down to the nearest nickel, or round change owed up to the nearest nickel. They may not refuse penny payments, charge more for paying in cash or pennies, or skip telling you about the rounding policy before you pay. In practice, rounding there only moves in the customer’s favor.
Before any of the 2026 laws, NCSL reported that a September 30, 2025 letter from retail and restaurant trade groups said at least 10 states and localities prohibited rounding cash totals. That is why the same $4.98 can be handled three different ways in three different places.
Does rounding cost you anything?
A little, maybe. Richmond Fed economists looked at real cash purchases and found that totals ending in 3, 4, 8 or 9 cents showed up more often than the others, so rounding up wins slightly more often. Their nationwide estimate was about $6.06 million a year, which works out to a couple of cents per adult.
To opt out, pay by card, or pay the exact amount in pennies. The backstory on why the coins ran short is in is the penny discontinued.
One payment that never gets rounded: an electronic one. Chris is asking everyone on Earth to voluntarily send him exactly one cent, and an electronic payment is not rounded at all. One cent stays one cent. Not zero. Not five. The fee arithmetic lives on the math page.
No rounding required. Send exactly one cent.
Not affiliated with the U.S. Mint, the U.S. Treasury or the Federal Reserve.
Sources: Treasury penny FAQs, NCSL, Elimination of the Penny: Cents-able Considerations, NCSL on 2026 state laws, Washington SHB 2334, Washington session law text, NYC DCWP on cash and pennies, Richmond Fed on rounding.
Meet the penny jar ↗By Chris. All articles