House Passes Common Cents Act to Enable Cash Rounding for Retailers
September 24, 2026
If you’ve ever had to dig through the till for a penny—or had a customer do the same—the way cash is handled at checkout could eventually look a little different.
On September 14, 2026, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Common Cents Act. The legislation would establish a nationwide framework for rounding cash transactions to the nearest five cents when exact change isn’t available. It now moves to the Senate for consideration.
That doesn’t mean retailers need to change their checkout procedures today. The bill still has a few steps to go before the proposed cash-rounding rules could become federal law. For now, the House vote gives retailers another development to watch as the legislation moves forward.
We previously covered what the Common Cents Act could mean for retailers as the legislation made its way through Congress. With the House now passing a revised version, here’s what’s changed and what retailers should know.
What the House Passed & Why
The Common Cents Act comes as the U.S. moves away from producing pennies for general circulation.
The U.S. Mint stopped producing pennies for general circulation in November 2025. Existing pennies remain legal tender, but with no new pennies being produced for everyday circulation, retailers may have fewer one-cent coins available to make exact cash change over time.
The House-passed legislation would establish rules for handling those transactions.
If enacted, the bill would allow cash transactions to be rounded to the nearest five cents when exact change isn’t available. It would also establish guidelines for determining when a transaction rounds up or down.
Rather than having individual stores determine how to handle transactions when exact change isn’t available, a federal framework would establish the rules retailers would follow.
It’s worth emphasizing, though, that the House vote does not put those rules into effect yet. The bill still needs to make its way through the Senate and complete the rest of the legislative process.
For more details on the House vote and what the legislation could mean for retailers,
read coverage from the National Association of Convenience Stores (NACS).
What Could Cash Rounding Mean at Checkout?
For shoppers and retailers, the proposed change is fairly straightforward: when exact change isn’t available, the final cash transaction amount could be rounded to the nearest $0.05.
Here’s how it could work:
- Totals ending in 1 or 2 cents would round down.
- Totals ending in 3 or 4 cents would round up.
- Totals ending in 6 or 7 cents would round down.
- Totals ending in 8 or 9 cents would round up.
A total ending in 5 cents would remain unchanged.
For example, a cash transaction totaling $12.02 could be rounded down to $12.00, while a transaction totaling $12.03 could be rounded up to $12.05.
The adjustment would apply to the final transaction amount rather than changing the individual prices of items in the basket.
The proposed rules would apply to cash transactions, while noncash payments would continue to be processed to the exact cent. That includes credit cards, debit cards, and other electronic payment methods.
For retailers, the distinction is important. A point-of-sale (POS) system would need to know how a customer is paying before determining whether rounding applies to the transaction. The system would also need to reflect the appropriate total on the receipt and in transaction records.
If the bill ultimately becomes law, retailers may need to look at how their POS handles cash totals, receipts, transaction records, and reporting. Employee procedures could also need a quick refresh so everyone is on the same page.
A Quick Look at Penny Rounding with Zack
The change could also affect how retailers think about cash reconciliation. If a transaction is rounded up or down, that adjustment needs to be accounted for correctly so the amount collected at the register matches what is recorded in the POS.
For businesses processing a high volume of cash transactions, having the POS calculate the adjustment automatically could help keep the process consistent.
What Does the Penny Discontinuation Mean for Retailers?The shift away from pennies could affect more than the change in a
customer’s hand. Here’s what retailers should know.
What’s the Next Step?
The Common Cents Act now heads back to the Senate for consideration.
The Senate will consider the legislation. If the Senate passes a different version, the two chambers would need to work through those differences before a final bill could reach the president.
So, while the proposed cash-rounding framework moves through Congress, retailers don’t need to start rounding transactions just yet.
The final requirements—and when retailers would need to follow them—will depend on what happens as the legislation moves through Congress.
What Retailers Should Know
The House passage of the Common Cents Act gives retailers another reason to keep cash rounding on their radar.
If the bill becomes law, cash transactions could eventually be rounded to the nearest five cents, while card and other noncash payments would continue to be charged to the exact cent.
For now, the best next step is simply to stay informed. As the Senate considers the bill and more details become available, retailers will have a better idea of what, if anything, they’ll need to change at the register.
The penny may be on its way out of everyday circulation, but the rules for what comes next aren’t final yet.
Pennies may be changing, but checkout doesn’t have to become more complicated.
See how FTx handles cash rounding at the register.