I went into the county building to order a copy of a tax bill - a copy of the bill costs $ 10. I only had a $ 100 bill with me. They told me I was required to go get change and come back. I would like to point out that the person in front of me also paid with a $ 100 bill and they had no problem with him and there are no signs indicating that big bills are not allowed. My question is this: Is it legal for a government tax office to refuse my payment on the grounds that they are not required to make change for big bills?
Answer by The Master
No because the money says on it:
This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private.
By doing so, they are going over US law unless they physically don't have the money there to provide the change and thus can't.
Answer by Pobept K
yes, many government agencies do not keep money available to make change.
They are not refusing payment they simply require, exact payment
Sorry, good luck
Answer by mj69catz
Hello -- why would you only have a $ 100 on you. That is silly.
You cannot expect any business to have change at any given time equal to that amount. They could not make change at that time. There is nothing wrong with this. They told you to come back later with a smaller bill. The person in front of you may have taken all their change, or may have paid for a more expensive item.
Why should they keep enough cash on hand to deal with idiots who can't bring smaller bills with them. They probably don't do a lot of cash business at all.
While the $ 100 is legal tender, I know of no law indicating that they are required to accept it. Would you have preferred that you pay them the $ 100, and just receive $ 50 cash back because that was all they had?
Answer by laughter_every_day
The bill is legal tender and would extinguish the debt, but you never incurred the debt because they didn't complete the transaction by giving you the copies. So, your complaint is for failure to make the copies available to you but such a legal complaint will be dismissed as frivolous. If they did not have change, and you wanted to push it, you could have given them the 100 and arranged for them to mail you a check for your change at some indefinite time in the future. I suspect that the clerk surmised that you weren't interested in that arrangement. If she was wrong, and you were willing to get your change later, you should have said so.
Answer by Jim C
Like "The Master" stated, the 100 bill IS legal tender and by law cannot be refused to settle a debt.
However, some points worth noting. If the payment and the service provided are roughly at the same time (like for example a bus fare, or vending machine purchase for a chocolate bar) than there is no obligation to provide change.
Similarily, if there are signs stating large bills not accepted at certain times (in order to minimize robberies), that too is okay.
But if you had waited for the copies to be made and took receipt of them, AND then paid the $ 100 bill, the gov't agency would be forced to accept it and make change for you.
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Orignal From: Can a county tax office refuse payment of a $10 fee with a $100 bill claiming they do not have to make change?
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