Know the rule

H.R. 10167 passed the House on 2026-09-14 and the Senate on 2026-09-28 without amendment. Passed House and Senate. Awaiting presentation to the President. Primary source Text last verified 2026-09-29 against the official bill text.

The bill's rounding provisions apply to a "covered amount," which the bill text defines to include the total transaction amount (including taxes) and the amount of cash change due when cash tendered exceeds the tax-inclusive total. Primary source (Section 3)

Rounding is triggered when exact change cannot be provided at the time of a cash transaction. Primary source (Section 3)

The bill sets the increment at five cents. As passed, amounts ending in 1, 2, 6, or 7 cents round down, and amounts ending in 3, 4, 8, or 9 round up. Primary source (Section 3)

A covered amount totaling $0.01 or $0.02 may be rounded up to $0.05. Primary source (Section 3)

The bill does not require rounding. It is permissive: Section 3(e) states that ordinary or customer-favorable rounding is not required. Primary source A business may choose not to round at all, subject to any separate state or local requirements. Centsless analysis

When rounding produces an amount the business would pay to the customer, the bill permits rounding up to the nearest amount divisible by five. When rounding produces an amount the customer would pay to the business, the bill permits rounding down to the nearest amount divisible by five. Primary source (Section 3)

The bill's rounding provisions apply to cash transactions. As passed, they do not apply to the following payment methods: Primary source (Section 3)

• Demand or negotiable instrument
• Electronic fund transfer
• Check
• Gift card
• Money order
• Credit card
• Other like instrument or method

In practice, this means electronic payments (cards, EFT, and similar methods) are not rounded under the bill; only the cash tender path is affected. A business that rounds an electronic payment would not be acting within this framework. Centsless analysis POS configuration should route rounding logic to cash tender only; see Configure the POS.

An employer may provide the exact cash amount to an employee. If an employer chooses to round a cash payment made to an employee, the direction must be upward. Primary source (Section 3)

The bill does not excuse noncompliance with minimum wage, overtime, or paid leave requirements. Primary source

Section 4 of the bill provides that adherence to Section 3 does not constitute a violation of applicable federal, state, tribal, or local requirements. Primary source (Section 4)

This is a protection tied to following the federal rounding method, not a blanket statement that federal law overrides all other state or local rules. Sales tax treatment, receipt and disclosure rules, and other consumer-protection requirements may still be governed separately. See the federal standard page for the fuller treatment of this distinction. Centsless analysis

The bill does not prescribe a specific record-keeping format. Because the safe harbor in Section 4 turns on having actually followed the Section 3 method, a business may want to be able to demonstrate the transaction amount, tax, the covered amount and basis, the tender type, the rounding rule applied, and the resulting adjustment. Implementation consideration This is a planning consideration, not a requirement stated in the bill.