One and two-cent coins and the rounding rule
What do I need to know about the rounding rule that will apply from 2025?
From 1 January 2025, all merchants will be obliged under the updated and amended Act on Introduction of Euro to round the final price of a basket of shopping to the nearest five cents when the customer pays in cash. The rounding rule is intended to reduce the number of one and two-cent coins in circulation, as they are rarely used for making payments and producing them is resource-intensive, but they are still needed for giving change. The rounding rule will make it unnecessary to produce more of them.
THE ROUNDING RULE WILL APPLY:
- only to payments in cash, as card payments or amounts paid in a different way will not be rounded
- only to the final price of the basket of shopping, and prices of individual items will not be rounded. When cash is used to pay for only one item, the price of that item is then the final price of the whole shopping basket and will be rounded at the till
- If the payment is partly in cash and partly by card, voucher or loyalty bonus points then only the final price of the purchase will be rounded if that part is paid in cash
- When a refund is given in cash for a product or service, in which case the amount will be rounded using the same principles as for purchases, regardless of whether the purchase was originally paid for by card, in cash or in some combination
- If a deposit for packaging is being returned in cash
HOW WILL THE ROUNDING RULE WORK?
If a customer pays in cash, the seller will round the final price of the basket of shopping at the cash till up or down to the nearest five cents. This means that the basket of shopping paid for in cash may be up to two cents cheaper or more expensive.
Prices ending in one, two, six or seven cents will be rounded downwards.
Prices ending in three, four, eight or nine cents will be rounded upwards.
EXAMPLE
- A shopping basket contains two items that are priced at 2.28 euros and 15.33 euros, and the customer wants to pay in cash. The prices of the individual items are not rounded or changed at all, but the total price of the basket of shopping is rounded at the cash till and it falls from 17.61 euros to 17.60 euros. If a card is used for payment, the total amount remains at 17.61 euros.
- If the shopping basket contains only one item at 2.28 euros and the customer wants to pay in cash, the price of the shopping basket is rounded to 2.30 euros at the till. If a card is used for payment, the amount to pay remains at 2.28 euros.
The rounding rule will not put any limits on price setting for goods and services or on calculations to the exact cent. This means that sellers will still be able to set prices like 3.99 euros.
One and two-cent coins will remain legal tender for payment after the rounding rule comes in, so it will still be possible to pay with them and they must be accepted. One and two-cent coins could only be entirely removed from circulation by a decision taken by the European Union, and there are no plans for any such decision at present. Estonian law requires merchants to accept up to 50 valid circulating coins at any one go, regardless of their value.