Stores Statewide Now Required to Accept Cash Payments or Face Fine

Financial Services attorney Christopher Phillips was quoted in a Newsday article on New York's new law requiring stores to accept cash payments from customers. Effective March 21, 2026, all food stores and retail establishments, including bars and restaurants, must take cash as payment for goods and services, and cannot charge extra for cash-paying customers. Mr. Phillips mentioned the law does not carve out exceptions for large cash transactions, though it does specify that stores do not have to accept bills above $20. New York's cash acceptance law comes amid concerns about opportunity for underbanked individuals, but the penny shortage as a result of the government's decision to cease minting the one-cent coin poses complications: If businesses cannot ask cash-paying consumers to pay extra, how do they handle uneven amounts like $10.93?

"If a transaction comes out to $100.03, a cardholder is going to pay $100.03," he commented. "But for someone paying cash, if the retail doesn't have pennies," then they face a rounding problem, adding that for bodegas and convenience stores operating on thin margins, always rounding down quickly adds up.

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