Can New Jersey Businesses Go Cashless? What the 2019 Law Requires
The New Jersey cashless business law requires in-person sellers to accept cash. See the exemptions, real enforcement cases and how to run card-first legally.
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On this page 8 sections
- What the New Jersey Cashless Business Law Requires
- Five Exemptions, None of Them Main Street
- Free Coffee Didn't Satisfy the Cash Rule
- Common Checkout Setups Under New Jersey's Cash Rule
- Surcharges Are Governed by a Separate 2023 Law
- New York Locations Now Have a Statewide Cash Rule
- Food Trucks and Event Vendors Aren't Exempt
- A Card-First Counter That Still Takes Cash
No, not if you sell in person. Since Gov. Phil Murphy signed A591 on March 18, 2019, the New Jersey cashless business law has required anyone who sells goods or services face to face to take cash when a customer offers it. The law also makes it illegal to require a card as a condition of the sale. You can push customers toward cards as hard as you like, but refusing cash breaks the state's Consumer Fraud Act.
General information, not legal advice, current as of October 2026. Before changing how you take payments, confirm your setup with a New Jersey attorney or the Division of Consumer Affairs.
What the New Jersey Cashless Business Law Requires
The core of the law fits in one sentence. A person selling at retail must accept legal tender "when offered by the buyer as payment," according to Frier Levitt's summary of the act. The same section makes it an unlawful practice under the Consumer Fraud Act to require payment by credit or to prohibit cash.
The phrase "at retail" sets the limits. It means an in-person transaction, so telephone, mail and internet sales fall outside the law. Inside those limits the law covers a lot, because it applies to services as well as goods. A salon chair, an auto repair counter or a ticketed attraction is covered just as a boutique is. Frier Levitt, a health care law firm, warned at the time that the law can be read to cover patients who pay in person at a practice. That matters for medical offices that collect copays at the front desk.
Penalties at enactment were up to $2,500 for a first violation and $5,000 for a second, according to the New Jersey Business & Industry Association. NJBIA opposed the bill. It argued that consumers at every income level can get prepaid cards, but the Legislature passed the bill anyway. The lead sponsor, Assemblyman Paul Moriarty, admitted that few New Jersey businesses had gone cashless. He called the law a "solution to an imminent problem" and pointed to Amazon's cashierless stores. The law made New Jersey the second state with a cash mandate, after Massachusetts in 1978. Philadelphia's mayor had signed a similar ordinance earlier that same month.
Keep the source of the rule straight. This is state consumer-protection law. It isn't a card network rule, and no processing contract can waive it.
Five Exemptions, None of Them Main Street
| Exempt Seller or Sale | Condition |
|---|---|
| Telephone, mail and internet sales | Not "at retail" under the law's definition |
| Sellers at an airport | At least two food sellers in each terminal accept cash |
| Parking facilities taking mobile payment | The facility accepts mobile payment only |
| Municipally owned parking facilities | Exempt, per NJBIA's summary |
| Motor vehicle rental companies | Must accept a cashier's check or certified check |
A restaurant, retailer, salon or food truck won't fit any of these. Assume every in-person sale is covered.
Free Coffee Didn't Satisfy the Cash Rule
The statute is short, and enforcement shows how the Division of Consumer Affairs reads it. On February 7, 2023, Attorney General Matthew Platkin announced notices of violation against four businesses. The Division had investigated dozens of complaints about refused cash and undisclosed card fees.
The Dream Wheel case shows that "we take cash, sort of" doesn't count. Skyviews of America runs the Ferris wheel at the American Dream mall in East Rutherford. Riders who wanted to pay cash were sent to a different merchant to buy a gift card, and that gift card carried a surcharge. The Division treated the arrangement as refusing cash, and the notice came with a $1,000 civil penalty.
Hidden Grounds Coffee is the case most owners would not expect. The chain stopped taking cash during the pandemic, and its co-founder told Daily Coffee News that the shops had been giving products away to people without cash. Good intentions didn't help. After two notices, Hidden Grounds settled for $2,000 and agreed to accept cash and keep inconvenience for cash payers to a minimum. It also had to distribute a summary of the consent order to the managers who train employees at its New Jersey stores.
Neither fine came close to the $2,500 ceiling. The consent order is what stays with a business, because it sets terms for how the counter runs afterward. Here is our reading of the two cases. The Division asks whether someone holding a $20 bill can buy the same item, at the same counter, on the same terms as someone holding a phone. Free goodwill doesn't pass that test, and neither does a trip to another vendor.
Common Checkout Setups Under New Jersey's Cash Rule
Most modern checkout designs postdate the 2019 statute. Where the table says "ask counsel," the law is silent. That silence doesn't mean the setup is safe.
| Setup | Where It Stands |
|---|---|
| "Card only" sign at the register | The core violation |
| Cash buyers sent to buy a gift or prepaid card | Cited by the Division in 2023 |
| Order and pay online, pick up in store | An internet sale, outside "at retail" |
| Order online, pay at pickup | In-person payment, so take cash if offered |
| One staffed cash register, cards everywhere else | The law sets no number of cash points; keep that register open whenever you're open |
| Kiosk or QR ordering as the only way to pay | Risky unless staff can take cash for the same order |
| Cash-to-card machine instead of taking cash | Not a New Jersey exemption |
| Refusing $50 and $100 bills | No large-bill carve-out in the NJ summaries; ask counsel first |
Surcharges Are Governed by a Separate 2023 Law
In New Jersey, whether you accept cash and how you price card payments are two separate legal questions. On August 18, 2023, Murphy signed A4284, now P.L. 2023, c.146, and it took effect upon enactment. A credit card surcharge can't exceed the seller's actual cost to process the payment. The amount has to be disclosed before the customer incurs any charge. Most sellers do that with a sign at the point of entry and another at the point of sale. Restaurants post it in the customer service area and on the menu.
According to the Division's FAQs as reported by Parsippany Focus, a percentage is acceptable but "a surcharge may apply" is not, because the sign has to give the amount. The statute applies to credit cards. Card network rules separately bar surcharging debit, a point the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers' training slides flag in bold. Timing was an enforcement issue even before the 2023 law, since the same February 2023 release covered businesses that disclosed surcharges too late.
Worked example (illustrative). A bike shop in Hoboken pulls last month's statement. It shows $6,000 in credit card volume and $171 in total fees on those cards. Its effective cost is $171 ÷ $6,000 = 2.85%. On an $80 tune-up, that puts its cost at $2.28. A round 3% sign would charge $2.40, which is $0.12 more than its cost. New Jersey law doesn't allow that margin.
A customer who pays with a debit card owes no surcharge, and one who pays cash owes $80. The cost of each card brand differs from that blended average, so ask counsel whether a flat rate set at your average is safe on your cheapest cards. You can find the fee figures with our guide to reading a processing statement line by line.
A cash discount program or dual pricing gives cash payers a lower price and fits the intent of a law written to protect them. Program design and disclosure still matter. Our comparison of cash discount vs. surcharge vs. dual pricing covers how each one is built. For the network side, see our overview of credit card surcharge rules.
New York Locations Now Have a Statewide Cash Rule
On March 21, 2026, New York General Business Law § 396-ii went into effect. It extends a New York City rule in place since 2020 to food stores and retail establishments across the state. The two states differ in ways that matter for anyone operating on both sides of the Hudson.
| Question | New Jersey | New York State |
|---|---|---|
| Remote sales | Exempt | Exempt unless payment happens on the premises |
| Bills over $20 | No carve-out in the summaries | May be refused |
| Cash-to-card device in place of cash | Not an exemption | Allowed if it charges no fee, requires no more than a $1 minimum deposit and meets the statute's other conditions |
| Higher price for cash payers | Not addressed | Prohibited |
| Maximum penalties | $2,500 first, $5,000 second | $1,000 first, $1,500 each after |
A two-state operator is easiest to run with one policy built on the stricter answer to each question. Take cash at every location. Accept every bill size unless counsel in both states approves a limit. Never charge cash payers more. Our guide to New York credit card surcharge law covers New York's rules for posting card prices.
Food Trucks and Event Vendors Aren't Exempt
A sale through a truck window is an in-person retail transaction, and none of the five exemptions covers mobile vendors. The same goes for a farmers market table. A festival that bills itself as cashless doesn't change your obligation, so get the organizer's plan for serving cash buyers at your booth in writing before you sign.
The practical side is mostly about change and security. Carry a starting bank in small bills sized to your usual ticket. During a long event, move overflow from the cash box to a drop safe. A mobile terminal that logs cash and card sales together gives you one end-of-day total. Cash also keeps you selling when the cell signal drops and card authorizations stall. MannyPay works with food truck operators on this kind of setup.
A Card-First Counter That Still Takes Cash
The law requires you to accept cash. It doesn't require cash to be the fastest way to pay. Picture a lunch counter with contactless tap-to-pay at two registers and a third register with a cash drawer, staffed every shift. Most customers tap and leave. The one holding a twenty still gets lunch at the same price.
Take down old "card only" stickers from doors and menus. Give staff a neutral line, such as "Cash or card is fine." Ring cash into the same POS system as card sales, and balance the drawer each shift using our end-of-shift cash count routine. If a customer ever files a complaint, those reports and a written payment policy are your records.
This week, go to each register, kiosk and truck you operate and pay for something with a $20 bill. If any of them can't take it on the spot with no extra step, fix that first. To have your terminals and pricing program reviewed, request a free quote, and a MannyPay specialist will respond within one business day. Confirm the legal side with New Jersey counsel.
Sources
- NJ Client Alert: Governor Murphy Signs Bill Banning Cashless Stores in New Jersey (Frier Levitt)
- Governor OK's Ban on Cashless Sales (NJBIA)
- New Jersey Ban Will Force Shops to Accept Cash; Municipal Parking Lots, Car Rentals Exempted (inkl)
- New Jersey Enacts Law Barring Cashless Stores (NBC New York / Associated Press)
- AG Platkin Announces Several Violations at Businesses for Not Accepting Cash and Charging a Credit Card Surcharge Without Required Notice, February 7, 2023 (NJ Division of Consumer Affairs)
- New Jersey Coffee Business Penalized $2,000 for Not Accepting Cash (Daily Coffee News)
- NJ's AG Announces Violations for Businesses Not Accepting Cash, Charging Credit Card Surcharge (RLS Media)
- AG Cites Four Businesses for Not Accepting Cash, Imposing Surcharges (NJBIZ)
- P.L. 2023, c.146 (A4284), Credit Card Surcharges (New Jersey Legislature)
- New Jersey Enacts Law Capping Surcharges for Credit Card Transactions (Consumer Financial Services Law Monitor)
- New Jersey Law Limits Credit Card Surcharges, Requires Clear Disclosure (Parsippany Focus)
- Credit Card Surcharges Training Slides (New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers)
- Cash Is Back: New York Requires Retailers and Food Establishments to Accept Cash Payments (Bond, Schoeneck & King)
- New York General Business Law § 396-ii, Cashless Policies Prohibited (Justia)
- New York's Cash Law Is Now in Effect: What Cashless Businesses Need to Know (RedyRef)
This article is for general educational purposes and is not legal, tax or financial advice. Card network rules and state laws change; confirm current requirements for your business.
