Beginning August 28, 2026, Missouri retailers may choose to round the final total of eligible cash purchases to the nearest five cents under House Bill 2819. The optional law applies only to cash transactions, does not change how sales tax is calculated or remitted, and is intended to simplify cash handling while reducing the need to exchange pennies.
JEFFERSON CITY, MO – August 7, 2026 (STL.News) – Missouri retailers will soon have a new option at the cash register.
Beginning August 28, 2026, businesses across Missouri may choose to round the final total of eligible cash transactions to the nearest five cents under House Bill 2819, recently enacted by the Missouri General Assembly. The Missouri Department of Revenue (DOR) has notified retailers that the change is entirely optional and applies only to purchases paid with physical currency.
The new law is intended to simplify cash transactions involving low-denomination coins while preserving Missouri’s existing sales tax system. Retailers that adopt the practice will continue calculating, reporting, and remitting sales tax exactly as they do today. Only the amount a customer pays in cash may be rounded under the law.
For consumers, most purchases will remain unchanged. The difference is that customers paying with cash may occasionally pay or receive up to two cents less or more when the final purchase total is adjusted to the nearest nickel.
Optional Program for Missouri Businesses
One of the most important aspects of the legislation is that participation is voluntary.
Retailers are not required to implement cash rounding. Businesses that prefer to continue accepting and returning pennies may do so without making any changes to their operations.
Likewise, customers using credit cards, debit cards, mobile payment apps, checks, or other electronic payment methods will continue paying the exact purchase amount shown on their receipt. The law specifically limits rounding to cash transactions only.
The Department of Revenue emphasized that electronic payments must never be rounded, ensuring pricing consistency for digital transactions.
How Missouri’s Cash Rounding Rules Work
The law requires that rounding occur only after all merchandise has been totaled, discounts applied, and sales tax calculated. Individual item prices are never rounded.
The final cash total is adjusted according to the last digit of the cents amount:
- Totals ending in 1, 2, 6, or 7 cents are rounded down to the nearest five cents.
- Totals ending in 3, 4, 8, or 9 cents are rounded up to the nearest five cents.
- Totals already ending in 0 or 5 cents remain unchanged.
For example:
- $1.91 becomes $1.90
- $1.92 becomes $1.90
- $1.93 becomes $1.95
- $8.47 becomes $8.45
- $12.88 becomes $12.90
- $25.50 remains $25.50
The maximum adjustment on any qualifying purchase is two cents.
Because some totals round up while others round down, the system is designed to remain generally balanced over time rather than consistently benefiting either the customer or the retailer.
Sales Tax Reporting Does Not Change
Although customers may notice a small difference when paying cash, Missouri businesses will see virtually no change in their tax reporting responsibilities.
Retailers must continue calculating sales tax using the exact purchase amount before any rounding occurs. The rounded cash payment does not alter the taxable sale, the tax collected, or the amount reported to the Department of Revenue.
Accounting records, sales tax returns, and tax remittances should continue to reflect the actual calculated transaction value, not the rounded cash payment.
This distinction was included in House Bill 2819 to ensure the new rounding option does not affect state or local tax collections.
Protection for Businesses Acting in Good Faith
The legislation also provides legal certainty for businesses choosing to adopt the optional practice.
Retailers that apply the rounding rules in good faith according to the statute are not considered in violation of Missouri law or local regulations simply because they rounded an eligible cash transaction.
The Department of Revenue expects businesses using the option to apply the rules consistently and only where permitted under the law.
Why Missouri Adopted the Law
Missouri joins a growing number of jurisdictions examining how cash transactions should be handled as pennies become less common in everyday commerce.
Although pennies remain legal tender in the United States, rising production costs and declining use of cash have prompted policymakers to consider practical alternatives for handling one-cent differences during cash transactions.
The federal government has also announced plans to phase out production of the one-cent coin after existing inventories are exhausted, making standardized cash-rounding policies increasingly relevant for retailers that continue accepting cash payments.
Missouri’s legislation does not eliminate the penny or prohibit its use. Instead, it provides businesses with a voluntary option that can reduce the need to maintain large quantities of one-cent coins while continuing to serve customers who prefer paying with cash.
Preparing for the New Law
Businesses planning to participate should review their point-of-sale systems before the August 28 effective date.
Many modern POS systems already support cash-rounding features or can be updated through software configuration. Retailers should also ensure employees understand that rounding applies only to the final total of qualifying cash purchases and never to individual products or electronic payments.
Employee training may include:
- Identifying transactions that qualify for rounding.
- Applying the correct rounding rules consistently.
- Explaining the new policy to customers.
- Ensuring receipts and accounting records remain accurate.
- Continuing to calculate sales tax using the exact transaction amount.
Posting a small notice near checkout counters may also help reduce customer confusion during the transition.
What Consumers Can Expect
For most shoppers, the new law will have little noticeable impact.
Customers paying with debit cards, credit cards, digital wallets, or checks will continue paying the exact purchase price shown on their receipt.
Cash customers, however, may occasionally see their final payment adjusted by one or two cents, depending on the ending digits of the purchase total. Because the rules round both upward and downward, customers will sometimes save a penny or two and other times pay a penny or two more.
The optional system is designed to simplify cash handling without changing product prices, sales tax calculations, or the overall cost of doing business.
Looking Ahead
House Bill 2819 takes effect on August 28, 2026, giving Missouri retailers the flexibility to adopt optional cash rounding if it fits their business operations. While the law changes how some cash transactions may be completed, it leaves Missouri’s sales tax system unchanged. It preserves the choice for businesses to continue handling cash exactly as they always have.
For retailers, the transition may involve updating checkout procedures and employee training. For consumers, the change is expected to be modest, affecting only the final amount paid when using cash while leaving electronic transactions and tax calculations exactly as they are today.
