On Thursday Seimas adopted the Bill on Cash Payments Rounding, which addressed the issue of abandoning 1 and 2 euro cent coins when paying in cash - the final amount of the basket of goods and services will be rounded.
The start of the application of rounding is aligned with the deadlines for the introduction of smart cash registers and is accordingly set for 2025. on May 1, when all cash registers will be adapted to the new smart requirements.
65 MPs voted for the bill, 20 against, 31 abstained.
Liberal Andrius Bagdonas, who supported the project, said that 1 and 2 euro cent coins cause a bureaucratic burden for business and the state.
"When we receive returns in euro cents in the store, we don't think about how much they really cost us. The bureaucratic burden falls on both business, the state, and taxpayers, and for 1 or 2 euro cent coins, we basically can't buy anything except a plastic bag," A. Bagdonas said on Thursday in the hall of plenary sessions of the Seimas.
Tomas Tomilinas, a member of the Democratic faction "Vardan Lietuvos", who did not support the proposal at the time, said that the potential rounding of prices upwards could provide an additional impetus to inflation.
"Maybe living in Vilnius, receiving a normal salary, it doesn't seem to matter. But if a person is faced with rounding up and has to pay 2 or 3 extra cents for his usual purchased item, it will be bad, an additional impulse for inflation", explained T. Tomilinas.
In the draft law, it is proposed to determine that when a natural and legal person pays an economic entity for goods in cash, the final amount calculated for the goods purchased at the same time is rounded up to the nearest multiple of 5.
In July, in order to implement these changes, a draft supplement to the Law on the introduction of the Euro was submitted, but the Law Department of the Seimas recommended submitting a separate law.
The final calculated amount ending in 1 or 2 euro ct is expected to be rounded down to 0, and an amount ending in 3 or 4 euro ct is expected to be rounded up to 5. Whereas an amount ending in 6 or 7 euro ct would be rounded down to 5 and the final calculated amount ending in 8 or 9 euro ct would be rounded up to 10.
Rounding will not be applied to: payments in non-cash, gift vouchers (cheques, cards), money accumulated in loyalty cards, social cards; for electronic marketplace services; wages and other employment-related benefits, including per diems and allowances intended to compensate for actual travel, lodging and meal expenses related to the secondment; for pensions and other social security benefits (even if paid in cash).
Also, rounding is not intended to be applied to taxes, tax-related amounts, fees, fines and other monetary obligations that are assigned or determined in accordance with the Code of Administrative Offenses and other laws; for currency exchange; for cash transfers; for depositing cash into a payment account and withdrawing cash from a payment account; when the total amount to be paid for simultaneously returned goods, purchased or sold goods (services) is less than 5 euro cents, except for the specified cases.
After rounding is introduced, 1 and 2 euro ct coins would remain a legal means of payment, i.e. they will continue to be able to be used for payment at trading points or exchanged for coins or banknotes of a larger denomination at the cash desks of the Bank of Lithuania or branches of commercial banks.
It is claimed that if the bills are approved, there will be no need to return the 1 and 2 euro ct coins, so they will no longer need to be minted and put into circulation. As a result, according to an expert assessment, in the long term, about 3,7 million could be saved annually. The cash cycle of residents, business and state funds, and euros will be more sustainable and efficient.
Ignas Dobrovolskas (ELTA)
