Cash rounding [1] [2] or Swedish rounding (New Zealand English [3] [4] ) occurs when the minimum unit of account is smaller than the lowest physical denomination of currency. The amount payable for a cash transaction is rounded to the nearest multiple of the minimum currency unit available, whereas transactions paid in other ways are not rounded (for example electronic funds transfer such as with payment cards, or negotiable instruments such as cheques). Cash rounding typically occurs when low-denomination coins are removed from circulation owing to inflation. Cash rounding may be a compulsory legal requirement if such coins are no longer legal tender, or a voluntary practice where they remain in circulation but are scarce or impractical.
Cash rounding ("öre rounding", öresavrundning) was introduced in Sweden in 1972 when 1 and 2 öre coins were withdrawn from circulation, and has continued to be applied at incremental levels as smaller denomination coins have been withdrawn. The current level of cash rounding in Sweden is to the closest whole krona, after the 50 öre coin was withdrawn in 2010. The Reserve Bank of New Zealand used the name "Swedish rounding" in 1990 when withdrawing their 1- and 2-cent coins. In Canada, cash rounding to the nearest nickel (5 cents) due to the elimination of the penny in 2013 is also called penny rounding. [5]
When small-value coins are withdrawn, an alternative to the implementation of cash rounding is instead to increase the minimum unit of account to the smallest remaining currency unit and to round all prices and bank accounts to this value. Whereas cash rounding is an ongoing process, this alternative is a one-time conversion. It was done, for example, when the British farthing was withdrawn in 1960.
Rounding is applied to the total of a bill, not to the line items on the bill. Typically, the total is rounded to the nearest multiple of the smallest denomination, which may be higher or lower than the unrounded total. Where the unrounded total is an equal distance from two multiples, practice varies: merchants may be required or encouraged to round down rather than up, giving the benefit to the buyer. An equal distance is possible when the rounding interval is an even number.
The introduction of cash rounding is typically accompanied by publicity campaigns for awareness among both consumers and implementing merchants; smaller campaigns will accompany the extension of an existing rounding system to a higher rounding interval.
Country | Dates | Notes |
---|---|---|
Albania | One lek coins were last produced in 2013. Although they continue to circulate and are legal tender, cash transactions may be rounded to the nearest multiple of five lekë. | |
Argentina | Always rounded down. Due to high rates of inflation since the 2010s, low denominations are no longer produced and are quickly disappearing from circulation. | |
Australia | 1992 onwards | 1c and 2c coins last produced in 1991 and removed from circulation in 1992, though they remain redeemable at banks. Payments completed by cheque or electronic means are not usually rounded, although some point-of-sale systems may round all transactions regardless of tender. |
The Bahamas | 2021 onwards [6] | One cent coins issued by the Central Bank of the Bahamas ceased to be legal tender starting in 2021. All cash transactions should be rounded to the nearest multiple of five cents. |
Bahrain | 1966 onwards | 1 fils coins were last minted in 1966 and are currently no longer in circulation, so prices are rounded to the nearest 5 fils. |
Belgium | 2019 onwards [7] | Starting 1 December 2019 cash payments (payable of at least 5 cents) must be rounded to the nearest 5 cents. 1 and 2 cent coins are still valid as means of payment. |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | 2006 onwards | The smallest coin issued is the 5 fening. 1- and 2- fening coins are never issued. So prices are automatically rounded to the nearest 5 fening upon the introduction of the coin in 2006. |
Brazil | 2005 onwards | 1 centavo coins no longer produced as of November 2005. Retailers now generally round their prices to the next 5 or 10 centavos. |
Canada | 2013 onwards | Penny no longer produced as of 2012. After 4 February 2013 pennies no longer distributed by banks. Cash transactions are rounded to the nearest $0.05. Electronic transactions are still completed to $0.01. [8] |
CFP franc area (French Polynesia, New Caledonia, Wallis and Futuna) | 2022 onwards | 1- and 2- franc coins (along with the old coins) ceased to be legal tender on 30 November 2022 with the new coin series (which omits the 1 and 2 franc coins) circulating from September 2022. The rounding rule does not apply to non-cash transactions. [9] |
Croatia | 2009 to 2023 | 1- and 2-lipa coins were legal tender, but rarely used; the two coins are mostly minted for annual mint sets. Most prices were rounded to the nearest 5 or 10 lipa. Upon the introduction of the euro, the kuna lost its status as a legal tender currency. |
Finland | 1980 to 1990, 2002 onwards | The 1-penni coin was phased out in 1980 and the 5-penni coin in 1990. [10] When Finland introduced euro notes and coins in 2002, cash payments were rounded to the nearest five cents, [11] however one- and two-cent coins remain legal tender. Finland has its own design for 1- and 2-euro cent coins for mint sets with the intention of issuing them as non-circulating coins. |
Hungary | 2011 onwards | The centesimal subdivision of the Hungarian forint (the fillér) was discontinued in 1999, and is not used for transactions, but may appear in contexts where precision is needed, such as petrol prices. Cash rounding is done to the level of 5 Ft, which is also the smallest denominated coin available after a new set of coins was introduced in 2011. The 1-forint and 2-forint coins were withdrawn in 2008 and are no longer legal tender. Full precision to the forint level remains possible through bank transactions. |
Republic of Ireland | 2015 onwards | A National Payments Plan in April 2013 planned "to trial the use of a rounding convention in a pilot project in a mid-size Irish town", with the 1- and 2-cent coins no longer being minted for general circulation while remaining legal tender. [12] The trial in Wexford was declared successful in June 2015 and rounding to the nearest 5 cents commenced on 28 October 2015. [13] Compliance is voluntary and retailers must make exact charging upon request. [14] One- and two-cent coins remain legal tender, and rounding does not apply to electronic non-cash payments. [14] Those coins with the Irish designs are still minted for coin sets and other countries, such as when back in 2017, Portugal purchased 272 million Irish 1- and 2-euro cent coins to save costs on minting. [15] |
Israel | 1991 to 2007 | 1 agora coins were removed from circulation on 1 April 1991. Transaction amounts could still be specified to the nearest agora. Cash purchase totals were rounded to the nearest 5 agorot. This system was in effect until 1 January 2008, when the 5 agorot coin was also removed from circulation. [16] |
Italy | 1918 to 2002, 2018 onwards | 1 and 2 centesimi coins were last minted in 1918 and demonetized in 1924. All coins smaller than 1 lira were demonetized in 1947. 1 and 2 lire coins were last issued for circulation in 1959, then prices were rounded to the nearest 5 lire, although 1 and 2 lire coins remained legal tender. In the early 1990s, 5, 10 and 20 lire started to disappear from circulation, but they remained legal tender, making the 50 lire the smallest commonly used coin, until being withdrawn upon introduction of the euro in 2002. Since 1 January 2018 the Italian Mint discontinued the issuance of 1- and 2-euro cent coins for general usage; when payment is made in cash, some sellers round up or down to the nearest multiple of five cents. [17] As of 2022, many sellers still give and accept 1 and 2 cent coins, as there's still plenty of pre-2018 coins in circulation, and more recent coins issued in other Eurozone countries too. There are still a limited number of post-2018 coins minted, but those are only meant for annual coin sets and not for general circulation. |
Kazakhstan | 1- and 2-tenge coins are rarely used in Kazakhstan, and prices are normally rounded to the nearest 5 tenge. | |
Malaysia | 2008 onwards | In 2007, Bank Negara announced the cessation of 1 sen coin production and was removed from circulation by 2011, although those coins remain legal tender. The Malaysia government announced the introduction of a rounding mechanism to the nearest multiple of 5 sen for over-the-counter payments to be fully implemented by 1 April 2008. The total amount of a bill which ends in 1, 2, 6 and 7 sen will be rounded down while the total bill which ends in 3, 4, 8 and 9 sen will be rounded up to the nearest multiple of 5 sen. |
Mexico | 1992 to 2002 | 5 centavo coins no longer produced as of 2002. Retailers now generally round their prices to the next 10 centavos. |
Moldova | 2017 onwards | Minting of the 1-ban coin was stopped in 2017 and has slowly been removed from circulation. The 5-bani coin is the smallest denomination currently found in circulation in Moldova. |
Netherlands | 1980 to 2002, 2004 onwards | In 1980 the production of the Dutch 1 cent coin (0.01 guilder) ceased and the coinage was demonetised in the same year (at that time no coins between 1 and 5 cent existed). After introduction of the Euro in 2002, the Netherlands used 1- and 2- euro cent coins (equivalent to about 2.2 and 4.4 Guilder cents) until 2004. In 2004 the Netherlands discontinued issue and use of 1- and 2- euro cent coins for general circulation. The Netherlands did so under pressure from retail businesses, which claimed that dealing with 1- and 2-cent coins was too expensive. After a successful experiment in the town of Woerden in May 2004, retailers in the whole of the Netherlands have been permitted to round cash transactions to the nearest five cents since September 2004. [19] 1- and 2- euro cent coins are still minted, but mostly for annual coin sets as non-circulating coins. |
New Zealand | 1990 to 2006 | From 1990 to 2006, the 1- and 2-cent coins were no longer legal tender, but 5-cent coins were. From 2006, the 5-cent coin was no longer legal tender. [20] |
Peru | 2011 to 2019 | The one-céntimo coin was removed from circulation on 1 May 2011. It remained in place until the removal of the five-céntimo coin in 2019. |
Romania | 2005 onwards | One ban coins (worth 100 old lei) are legal tender but rarely encountered in circulation. Rounding is done to the nearest five bani. |
Singapore | 2011 onwards | The one-cent coin is no longer in production but still legal tender. Always rounded down. |
Slovakia | 2022 onwards | The one- and two-euro cent coins were removed from general circulation from July 1, 2022, however those 2 coins are still minted for annual coin sets. |
South Africa | 2002 to 2012 | Rounding is done to the nearest 5 cents, as by then, 1- and 2-cent coins had not been produced due to their minuscule value and inflation having devalued them. [21] |
Sweden | 1972 to 1985 | 1- and 2-öre coins were phased out. |
Switzerland | 2007 onwards | The 1-centime/Rappen coin was still produced until 2006 and legal tender until 2007 although it had already fallen out of common use long before. |
Trinidad and Tobago | 2018 onwards | 1¢ coins are no longer produced as of 2014. In 2018, they lost their status as legal tender. [22] |
Turkey | 1, 5, 10 and 25 kuruş coins are still legal tender; despite seldom encountered. | |
United Arab Emirates | 1, 5, and 10 fils coins are seldom encountered in everyday life. | |
Vanuatu | 2011 onwards | 1 and 2 vatu coins (and other coins in the old coinage series) are still legal tender. |
Vietnam | 500 dong notes are uncommon but sometimes used. Prices are usually rounded to 1,000 dong, with small candies or pieces of chewing gum given as compensation for rounding up. |
This is currently used in New Zealand, which eliminated its 5 cent coin in 2006, and in Hong Kong, which eliminated its 5 cent coin in 1989 and 1 cent note in 1995. In practice only utility bills, petrol stations and banks still keep the cent.
All other businesses use only ten cent intervals as follows:
In Sweden between 1985 and 1992, prices were rounded up for sales ending in 5 öre.
In China, coins smaller than 1 jiao (10 fen or ¥0.10) are now rare though still valid. As a result, many shops simply truncate their bills down to the next 1-jiao increment, giving the customer a discount of up to 9 fen; however, many other stores round sales to the nearest jiao values, and 5 fen is usually rounded up.
In Chile, the 1 and 5 peso coins were withdrawn on November 1, 2017 (but still legal tender), and rounding for cash transactions was implemented, prices are rounded down to the nearest 10 pesos if the value is $1–5, and rounded up if the value is $6–9. [24] Most prices are already rounded to the nearest 10 pesos, and many small businesses round to 50 or 100 pesos due to the low value and availability of lower denominations.
In Israel, 5 agorot coins were removed from circulation on 1 January 2008, after 1 agora coins had already been removed in 1991. Transaction amounts can still be specified to the nearest agora. Cash purchase totals are rounded to the nearest 10 agorot. A 5 agorot total is rounded up to 10 agorot. [16]
In South Korea, the 1- and 5-won coins are not used (but still legal tender). Prices are generally rounded to the nearest 10 won (though generally to the nearest 50 or 100 won in many stores apart from supermarkets), and cash payments are rounded to the same.
In Ukraine, from 1 October 2019, the 1-, 2- and 5-kopiyka coins were demonetized and withdrawn from circulation, with the 25-kopiyok coin softly withdrawn. From then all cash payments would be rounded to the nearest 10 kopiyok. [25]
In Peru, the 1-céntimo coin was discontinued in 2011, and the 5-céntimo followed in 2019. Prices are now rounded to the nearest 10 céntimos.
In South Africa, the production of 1 and 2 cent coins was discontinued in 2002, followed by 5 cent coins in 2012, primarily due to inflation having devalued them, but they remain legal tender. Prices are nowadays rounded to the nearest 10 cents.
The system used in Denmark from 1989 to 2008 was the following:[ citation needed ]
This system is used in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, as the smallest coin in general circulation is the 25-fils/dirham coin, with the 1-, 5- and 10-fils/dirham coins being rarely encountered due to their negligible value.
The system used in Sweden from 1992 to 2010, in Norway from 1993 to 2012, and in Denmark since 1 October 2008 [26] is the following:
In practice, the proportion of transactions rounded upwards is greater, due to psychological pricing of items ending in 90–99 öre. Rounding is only done on the total sum of a purchase, which makes that effect smaller. In some shops, all prices are already rounded to the whole krone, so that no rounding takes place.
This system is also used in India after the 25-paisa coin and lower denominations were demonetised in 2011.
This system is also used in Nigeria since 2007, when all coins issued before 2006 were demonetised, leaving the 50 kobo coin the only circulating denomination below one naira.
The system used in Sweden since 30 September 2010 and used in Norway [27] since 1 May 2012 when both countries withdrew their 50-öre/øre coins.
Same system is used in Czechia, after the 10, 20 and 50 hellers were withdraw from circulation in 2003 and 2008.
This is also the system similarly used in Jamaica since 15 February 2018, when the 1c, 10c, and 25c coins of the dollar were demonetised. [28]
In Mexico there is a trend for most supermarkets to ask customers whether to round the total to the nearest 50¢ or the whole peso to automatically donate the difference to charities. Should the customer choose the latter option, this system is used.
The krona is the currency of the Kingdom of Sweden. It is one of the currencies of the European Union. Both the ISO code "SEK" and currency sign "kr" are in common use for the krona; the former precedes or follows the value, the latter usually follows it but, especially in the past, it sometimes preceded the value. In English, the currency is sometimes referred to as the Swedish crown, as krona means "crown" in Swedish. The Swedish krona was the ninth-most traded currency in the world by value in April 2016.
There are eight euro coin denominations, ranging from one cent to two euros. The coins first came into use in 2002. They have a common reverse, portraying a map of Europe, but each country in the eurozone has its own design on the obverse, which means that each coin has a variety of different designs in circulation at once. Four European microstates that are not members of the European Union use the euro as their currency and also have the right to mint coins with their own designs on the obverse side.
Finnish euro coins feature three designs. Heikki Häiväoja provided the design for the 1 cent – 50 cent coins, Pertti Mäkinen provided the design for the 1 euro coin, and Raimo Heino provided the design for the 2 euro coin, which shows cloudberry, the golden berry of northern Finland. All designs feature the 12 stars of the EU and the year of imprint.
A penny is a coin or a unit of currency in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius, it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. At present, it is the formal name of the British penny (abbr. p) and the de facto name of the American one-cent coin (abbr. ¢) as well as the informal Irish designation of the 1 euro cent coin (abbr. c). Due to inflation, pennies have lost virtually all their purchasing power and are often viewed as an expensive burden to merchants, banks, government mints and the public in general.
The peso is the currency of Chile. The current peso has circulated since 1975, with a previous version circulating between 1817 and 1960. Its symbol is defined as a letter S with either one or two vertical bars superimposed prefixing the amount, $ or ; the single-bar symbol, available in most modern text systems, is almost always used. Both of these symbols are used by many currencies, most notably the United States dollar, and may be ambiguous without clarification, such as CLP$ or US$. The ISO 4217 code for the present peso is CLP. It was divided into 100 centavos until 31 May 1996, when the subdivision was formally eliminated. In July 2024, the exchange rate was around CLP940 to US$1.
Legal tender is a form of money that courts of law are required to recognize as satisfactory payment for any monetary debt. Each jurisdiction determines what is legal tender, but essentially it is anything which when offered ("tendered") in payment of a debt extinguishes the debt. There is no obligation on the creditor to accept the tendered payment, but the act of tendering the payment in legal tender discharges the debt.
The bolívar is the official currency of Venezuela. Named after the hero of South American independence Simón Bolívar, it was introduced following the monetary reform in 1879, before which the venezolano was circulating. Due to its decades-long reliance on silver and gold standards, and then on a peg to the United States dollar, it was considered among the most stable currencies and was internationally accepted until 1964, when the government decided to adopt a floating exchange rate instead.
The centavo is a fractional monetary unit that represents one hundredth of a basic monetary unit in many countries around the world. The term comes from Latin centum, with the added suffix -avo ('portion').
The Agora is a denomination of the currency of Israel. The Israeli currency – the Israeli new shekel (ILS)– is divided into 100 agorot.
The colón is the currency of Costa Rica. It was named after Christopher Columbus, known as Cristóbal Colón in Spanish. A colón is divided into one hundred céntimos.
The Jamaican dollar has been the currency of Jamaica since 1969. It is often abbreviated to J$, the J serving to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies. It is divided into 100 cents, although cent denominations are no longer in use as of 2018. Goods and services may still be priced in cents, but cash transactions are now rounded to the nearest dollar.
Pennies are a type of coinage that were minted between 1858 and 2012 for use in the Province of Canada, and later in Canada. Each coin is worth one cent, or 1⁄100 of a dollar. While the official term for the coin is one-cent piece, the terms penny and cent predominate likely due to their English origin. Like all Canadian coins, the obverse depicts the reigning Canadian monarch at the time of issue.
The sol is the currency of Peru; it is subdivided into 100 céntimos ("cents"). The ISO 4217 currency code is PEN.
The coins of Canada are produced by the Royal Canadian Mint and denominated in Canadian dollars ($) and the subunit of dollars, cents (¢). An effigy of the reigning monarch always appears on the obverse of all coins. There are standard images which appear on the reverse, but there are also commemorative and numismatic issues with different images on the reverse.
A debate exists within the United States government and American society at large over whether the one-cent coin, the penny, should be eliminated as a unit of currency in the United States. The penny costs more to produce than the one cent it is worth, meaning the seigniorage is negative – the government loses money on every penny that is created. Several bills introduced in the U.S. Congress would have ceased production of pennies, but none have been approved. Such bills would leave the five-cent coin, or nickel, as the lowest-value coin minted in the United States.
The 1 euro cent coin (€0.01) has a value of one hundredth of a euro and is composed of copper-covered steel. It is the lowest-value coin in the Eurozone; the next highest are the 2 and 5 euro cent coins. All euro coins have a common reverse and a country-specific (national) obverse. The coin has been used since 2002 and was not redesigned in 2007 as was the case with the higher-value coins.
The 2 euro cent coin (€0.02) has a value of one-fiftieth of a euro and is composed of copper-plated steel. All euro coins have a common reverse and country-specific (national) obverse. The coin has been used since 2002 and was not redesigned in 2007 as were the higher-value coins.
The coins of the New Zealand dollar are used for the smallest physical currency available in New Zealand. The current denominations are ten cents, twenty cents, fifty cents, one dollar and two dollars. The $1 and $2 coins are minted in a gold colour, the 20c and 50c coins are silver colour and the 10c coin is plated in copper.
The currency of Venezuela has been in circulation since the end of the 18th century. The present currency unit in Venezuela is the Venezuelan bolívar.
The withdrawal of a country's lowest-denomination coins from circulation may either be through a decision to remove the coins from circulation, or simply through ceasing minting.
Most retailers use a Swedish system of rounding prices up or down to the nearest 5c. ... All we would do is use the Swedish rounding system to the nearest 10c