Well, it’s official. As of today, the Royal Canadian Mint has stopped distributing pennies to financial institutions, and businesses are starting to round cash transactions to the nearest five-cent increment. Even though the penny won’t completely disappear anytime soon (there is still an estimated $30 of them currently in circulation), there are some things you, as a consumer, may need to know.
- Only cash transactions are to be rounded up or down to the nearest five cents.
- Cheques and electronic payments do not need to be rounded, as they are amounts that are settled electronically.
- For cash payments, only the final total is to be rounded (so not the subtotal before taxes or duties or fees).
- Pennies still have value (and will indefinitely). As such, consumers can use pennies to pay for their transactions to businesses that still choose to accept them.
Will the disappearing penny cause the HST to now be a dime?