Maryland cash rounding law

Maryland enacted the framework twice through cross-filed companion measures, Senate Bill 893, Chapter 516, and House Bill 1026, Chapter 515, both approved May 12, 2026. Both create the same Business Regulation Subtitle 6 governing cash rounding. They are not identical in their Tax-General amendments, so both chaptered acts are cited. They constitute one state framework and do not alter the twenty-state count.

Maryland permits, but does not require, a merchant to round the cash-paid portion of an in-person, telephone, mail, or internet transaction, or the change due, to the nearest five cents, with endings of 1, 2, 6, or 7 rounding down and 3, 4, 8, or 9 rounding up under Business Regulation 1-603. Section 1-604 governs a price totalling less than five cents, and 1-604(B) permits rounding that price up to five cents, so a total of $10.02 rounds down under 1-603 while a total of $0.02 rounds up under 1-604. Exact-change transactions are excluded. Employers may separately round cash wages under 1-605. Enacted as an emergency act effective on signing, May 12, 2026 (Chapter 516, SB 893, and companion Chapter 515, HB 1026).

Tax base is pre-rounded. The total price used for rounding is defined as the price after discounts and after applying tax and fees, the act bars using rounding to alter tax calculation, and Tax-General 11-101(l) is amended to exclude rounding-related amounts from the taxable price. The two companion chapters word that exclusion differently: Chapter 516 excludes an amount not exceeding two cents collected due to rounding, and Chapter 515 states the exclusion more broadly.

Not addressed for split cash and electronic payments. The statute addresses the cash-paid portion of a transaction and exact-change cash transactions only.

None in the enacted text. The subtitle carries supersession of conflicting local regulations, rules and ordinances, and rulemaking authority, and no violation clause, consumer protection exemption or immunity. Both operative sections open with "Notwithstanding any other provision of law", which is a conflict-of-laws clause governing which rule controls, not protection for an operator who rounds. Preemption is recorded as its own attribute and is not a liability shield.