Connecticut cash rounding law

Connecticut permits, but does not require, a merchant, defined as a person selling goods or services at retail on an in-person basis, to round the total price of an in-person retail cash purchase to the nearest five cents. If a merchant rounds, the method is prescribed: endings of 1, 2, 6, or 7 round down and 3, 4, 8, or 9 round up, applied to a total that already includes all merchant fees and taxes, less discounts. Rounding does not apply when the pre-rounding total is four cents or less or when payment is by any non-cash instrument. Effective January 1, 2027 under Public Act 26-128, Section 2.

Tax-inclusive rounding. The total price subject to rounding is defined to already include all taxes imposed under title 12, so tax is computed first on the pre-rounded price and rounding applies to the resulting tax-inclusive total collected in cash.

Not directly addressed. Transactions paid by a non-cash instrument are excluded from rounding, but the act does not specify treatment of a single transaction paid partly in cash and partly electronically.

No express safe harbor. The act amends the existing cash-acceptance statute (Conn. Gen. Stat. 21a-434(b)) to permit charging a cash-paying customer more than a non-cash-paying customer as provided by the rounding section, carving rounding out of the payment-method anti-discrimination rule without creating a broader liability shield.