U.S. currency includes cash, credit cards, and checks or money orders. The federal Coinage Act of 1965 states that coins and cash are “legal tender for all debts, public duties, taxes, and duties.” However, the federal government will not tell you what you will or will not accept as payment. Your private company is not required to accept all types of legal tender. He can decide what type of payment he wants. A Utah man has been charged with misconduct after trying to pay a controversial medical bill of 2,500 cents. The incident raises a legitimate question: Are companies forced to take their money? The law says: The Currency Act of 1965, specifically Section 31 U.S.C. 5103, states: “The coins and coins of the United States (including Federal Reserve notes and circulation notes of Federal Reserve banks and national banks) are legal tender for all debts, public duties, taxes, and duties. Foreign gold or silver coins are not legal tender for debts. Some companies have decided to change their own policies for pennies. They find counting pennies a waste of time and have started rounding up or down.
Of course, a company has to ask itself if it bothers its customers by taking advantage of them penny at a time. For example, a few years ago, Chipotle had tried to buy time by (secretly) rounding up or down to avoid pennies, but when the word came out, it really upset their customers. Chipotle has therefore changed its policy to round it up only in favor of the consumer. It is likely that the charge of disorderly conduct had more to do with dumping and the spreading of pennies than with the currency itself. But the incident raises a legitimate question: Are companies forced to take their money? After all, a penny is legal tender. Doesn`t that mean they`re good everywhere? The bottom line: If a grumpy taxpayer drags a wheelbarrow full of pennies to your tax office, smile and offer them a seat. He might be there for a while. The absence of such a law is how bus lines can legally refuse to accept your dollar bills, gas station employees can turn their noses up at your $100 and billboards near the monitor`s editorial office can yell at you after throwing a Sacagawea dollar coin into their cup.
even if you were just trying to be nice. U.S. notes that preceded Federal Reserve notes and have a red seal instead of a green one and a serial number continue to serve as legal tender, although very few remain in circulation. They were exchangeable into gold until 1933. U.S. Mint commemorative coins, such as the American Buffalo Gold Bullion, are also legal tender – although these coins tend to have a much higher metallic value than their printed monetary value and are therefore not suitable for use in general circulation. Title 31 of the United States Code also identifies “reserve bank and domestic bank circulation notes” as legal tender for “all debts, public duties, taxes, and duties.” Federal Reserve bank notes include what we consider fiat money in denominations of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100. They date back to the Federal Reserve Act of 1913 and have completely replaced other U.S. fiat currencies since the 1970s. Federal Reserve notes are made of cotton and linen and therefore have virtually no convertible value as a commodity — meaning they have no value in themselves like an apple or gold coin. This is the basic requirement of legal tender.
Their value comes from federal law or, as the Treasury says, from the U.S. economy. As long as the economy continues to function, Federal Reserve notes remain valuable – as evidenced by the use of the U.S. dollar as a stable currency around the world. A Federal Reserve note does not expire by nature, which means you can use it whether it is old or not, but most banknotes are withdrawn from circulation within a few years due to wear and tear. While coins are effectively legal tender through the Currency Act of 1965, the Federal Reserve explicitly states on its website that a private company is free to develop its own policies on which forms of payment to accept, unless state law dictates otherwise. Federal laws state that dollars must be accepted as legal tender, but never dictate what forms of dollars must be accepted. In response to the decline in the value of the copper coin, some stores stopped accepting it as a means of payment. In 2007, a New York man was so angry when a Chinese restaurant refused to pay for his dinner with 10 cents (along with other cash) that he persuaded a state senator to draft a bill requiring pennies to be accepted anywhere, anytime. (The law was not passed.) And in 2009, a number of merchants in Concord, Massachusetts, banded together to protest Pennies on Lincoln`s 200th birthday. In other words, U.S. currency and coins can be used for payments, but merchants are not necessarily obligated to accept them for all forms of business transactions.
If a shoemaker wants to sell his products for 8000 candies per pair, he has the right to do so; The buyer cannot demand that he accept the equivalent as legal tender instead. However, legal tender is the standard method of payment adopted in contractual agreements on debts and payments for goods or services, unless otherwise specified. But what about pennies? Thousands and thousands of cents? Section 31 of United States Code 5103, entitled “Legal tender,” states: “The coins and coins of the United States [including Federal Reserve notes and circulation notes of Federal Reserve banks and national banks] are legal tender for all debts, public rights, taxes, and duties.” This law means that all of the above U.S. funds constitute a valid and legal offer to pay the debt when offered to a creditor.