State Legislation Addresses End of Penny Production with Cash-rounding Plan

Chase Pray,
Missouri News Network

JEFFERSON CITY — Two proposed bills would permit Missouri vendors to round cash transactions to the nearest 5 cents.

House Bill 2819 and Senate Bill 1620 address potential challenges following President Donald Trump’s decision last year to halt the production of the penny as a cost-saving measure. The U.S. Treasury Department estimates an immediate $56 million will be saved from the end of annual penny production.

But the elimination of the penny has produced challenges for cash transactions, with varying approaches offered by retailers. The bill seeks to legally set how cash transactions would be determined through rounding.

The bills would allow cash transactions ending in 1, 2, 6 or 7 cents to be rounded down. Totals ending in 3, 4, 8 or 9 cents would be rounded up.

Transactions not completed with cash, such as those done with credit and debit cards, would not be affected.

All rounding would be applied only after discounts and taxes have been calculated.

HB 2819 sponsor Rep. Brenda Shields, R-St.Joseph, calls the bill a “must pass” due to the clarity it provides to businesses.

“It’s become necessary that we pass this piece of legislation so that our retailers and our businesses can know exactly how they need to handle cash transactions,” she said.

Shields noted that a lack of anything statutory regarding the issue has led several retailers to reach out to ensure they were rounding correctly.

“(The retailers) were looking for guidance for the Department of Revenue so they would round correctly, and we were not able to give that advice because we had nothing in statute,” she said. “It’s nearly impossible with our tax laws on sales tax that you’re ever going to come to an exact nickel amount.”

SB 1620 was introduced by David Gregory (R- St. Louis) and seeks to repeal RSMo 144.285 with a new section. Following a second read on Feb. 12, SB 1620 was referred to the Economic and Workforce Development Committee.

Both bills follow the recommendation of the National Council of State Legislator’s report from Nov. 21, 2025. If passed, both bills would be enacted on August 28. 2026.

The Missouri Department of Revenue expects these bills will have a limited impact on revenue since most transactions are already noncash. The Department of Commerce and Insurance also expects no fiscal impact for its organization.

Missouri joins a growing list of states implementing rounding systems as pennies begin to be phased out. Several states, such as North Carolina, New Jersey, Kentucky and Iowa, have already allowed retailers to round cash transactions.

The US Department of Treasury calculates there are 114 billion pennies in circulation and encourages consumers to continue to use pennies during cash sale transactions.

NOTE: This report is written by a Missouri School of Journalism student for publication by Missouri Press Association member newspapers in print and online. Additional information on this legislation was provided by Dorri Partain for publication in The Northeast News.