CASH TRANSACTIONS: ROUNDING

Plain English Breakdown

The bill text uses permissive language ('shall... if a seller that rounds'), indicating this is not mandatory for all transactions but only applies when a seller elects to round.

Rounding Cash Transactions to Five Cents

This bill allows sellers in Alaska who choose to round cash payments to do so by adding item prices and taxes first, then rounding the total up or down to the nearest five cents.

What This Bill Does

• Requires that if a seller rounds cash transactions, they must add all goods, services, discounts, and applicable taxes before calculating the final rounded amount.
• Rounds totals ending in one, two, six, or seven cents down to the nearest five-cent mark.
• Rounds totals ending in three, four, eight, or nine cents up to the nearest five-cent mark.
• Excludes payments made by electronic funds transfer, money order, credit card, debit card, or similar methods from this rounding rule.
• States that no state or local tax is owed on any small gain or loss caused by rounding.

Who It Names or Affects

• Sellers who engage in the business of selling goods or services and choose to round cash transactions
• Customers paying with physical cash for purchases

Terms To Know

Seller

A person who engages in the business of selling, contracting for the sale of, or arranging for the sale of goods or services.

Cash transaction rounding

The process of adjusting a cash payment total to be divisible by five cents after adding all prices and taxes.

Limits and Unknowns

• Rounding is optional for sellers; the law only sets rules if they choose to round.
• The text does not state a specific date when this law will take effect.
• The bill has passed both chambers but its final status regarding executive action or effective date is unknown.

Official Summary Text

CASH TRANSACTIONS: ROUNDING
An Act relating to rounding cash transactions to the nearest five cents.

Current Bill Text

HB0281a -1- HB 281
New Text Underlined [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED]

34-LS1281\A

HOUSE BILL NO. 281

IN THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA

THIRTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE - SECOND SESSION

BY REPRESENTATIVES SADDLER, Himschoot

Introduced: 1/26/26
Referred: State Affairs, Finance

A BILL

FOR AN ACT ENTITLED

"An Act relating to rounding cash transactions to the nearest five cents." 1
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 2
* Section 1. AS 45.45 is amended by adding a new section to read: 3
Sec. 45.45.940. Cash transaction rounding. (a) When processing a cash 4
transaction, a seller that rounds cash transactions to the nearest five cents shall 5
determine the total price of the transaction by first summing the price of the goods and 6
services being purchased, including discounts, then applying applicable sales or other 7
taxes, and then, when necessary to obtain a total divisible by five cents, rounding as 8
follows: 9
(1) if the total ends in one cent, two cents, six cents, or seven cents, the 10
total is rounded down to the nearest amount divisible by five cents; 11
(2) if the total ends in three cents, four cents, eight cents, or nine cents, 12
the total is rounded up to the nearest amount divisible by five cents. 13
(b) This section does not apply to transactions for which payment is made by 14
electronic funds transfer, money order, credit card, debit card, electronic payment, or 15
34-LS1281\A
HB 281 -2- HB0281a
New Text Underlined [DELETED TEXT BRACKETED]

other similar payment method. 1
(c) A tax imposed by the state or a local government does not apply to a gain 2
or loss resulting from rounding. 3
(d) In this section, "seller" means a person who engages in the business of 4
selling, contracting for the sale of, or arranging for the sale of goods or services. 5