The Seimas will consider amendments regarding cash rounding

The Seimas committees have already approved the draft law on the rounding of amounts in cash, and there are two readings in the plenary sessions before its adoption.

The rounding would be valid from May 2025 – then the installation of smart cash registers must be completed.

Chairman of the Finance and Budget Committee of the Seimas, Mindaugas Lingė, says that the effect of rounding on the population would be neutral.

“Those countries that have already implemented such a rounding system, there are already six of them in the euro zone, have observed that the rounding effect is neutral – usually one time people win, the next time they get a loss of one or two cents, but in the total amount there is some kind of greater effect doesn’t have”, M. Lingė told LRT radio.

The final purchase amount is expected to be rounded down to the nearest multiple of 5 cents for cash only: an amount ending in 1 or 2, as well as 6 or 7 cents, would be rounded down to 0 or 5 cents, and if ending in 3 or 4 in cents or 8 and 9 cents – on the larger side to 5 or 10 cents.

M. Lingė emphasized that the coins will not be taken out of circulation, it will continue to be possible to pay with them.

“The means of settlement, one or two cents, remains, they will not be taken out of circulation, if people have accumulated them, they will be able to pay with them. The principle of summation and rounding is implemented for those cases regarding the return of returns at trading points”, said M. Lingė.

Rounding would not be used for non-cash payments, currency exchange, cash transfers, cash deposits and withdrawals.

Violations of the rounding procedure are subject to warnings or fines of 100-500 euros, for companies – 200-1 thousand. EUR fines. They would be doubled for repeat violations.

Asta Kuniyoshi, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Bank of Lithuania, said during the amendment hearing in the Seimas Budget and Finance Committee that if more countries introduce rounding, one might believe in the European Commission’s initiatives regarding the rounding of small cents throughout the euro zone.

In six countries of the European Union, in order to abandon one and two cent coins, the final amount of goods is already rounded. Estonia also intends to introduce rounding of small cents from 2025.