Cash Payment (Penny) Rounding
Applies to: Liberty REACT POS 5.x and later | Last updated: May 2026
Overview
Penny rounding (also called cash rounding) automatically adjusts the cash-due amount on a transaction to the nearest 5-cent increment when a customer pays with cash. Because 1¢ and 2¢ amounts cannot always be made in exact change, rounding eliminates the need to handle sub-5¢ coin amounts at the register.
In Liberty REACT POS, penny rounding is implemented as a variable-amount fee line item that is automatically added to the sale when Cash is selected as the tender type. The rounding adjustment posts to a dedicated GL account, whether positive or negative, so your books stay balanced.
Key facts:
- Cash payments only. Credit card, debit, gift card, and all other tender types always settle to the exact cent.
- Bidirectional. The fee can be negative (customer pays less) or positive (customer pays more), depending on which 5¢ boundary is nearest.
- Tax unaffected. Tax is calculated on the original pre-rounding amount and is never changed by the rounding adjustment.
- Fully visible. The rounded amount appears as a named line item on screen and prints on the receipt.
Create the Fee Type
Before enabling rounding in Setup, you must create a dedicated Fee Type that the system will use to post the rounding adjustment. If this step is skipped, the Fee Type dropdown in Setup will be empty and rounding cannot be activated.
Navigate to Fee Types
Add a New Fee Type
Configure the Penny Round Up Fee Type
Fill in the Maintain Fee Type form with the following values, then click Save.
- Description: Penny Round Up. This name will appear on the sale screen and receipt.
- GL Account: Penny Round Up. Create a matching GL account if it does not already exist.
- GL Account Type: Other Income. Rounding adjustments post as other income.
- Tax Type: Leave blank. Rounding adjustments are not taxable.
- Amount Kind: Variable Amount. The system calculates the correct amount per transaction automatically.
- Amount: 0. Leave at zero. The system fills this in per sale.
- Active: Checked. Must be active for the fee type to appear in the Setup dropdown.
Click Save, then OK to close the Maintain Fee Types dialog.
Enable Rounding in Setup
Navigate to Setup
From the More menu, press Setup.
The Setup dialog opens with a left-side navigation panel. General is selected by default.
Configure Cash Payment Rounding
In the lower-right corner of the General panel, locate the Cash Payment Rounding box. By default, Rounding Kind is set to None and rounding is inactive.
Set the three fields as follows, then click OK to save.
- Rounding Kind: Set to Nearest. This rounds to the closest 5 cent boundary.
- Round To: Set to 5. This is the 5 cent rounding increment.
- Fee Type: Select Penny Round Up. This is the fee type you created in the previous section.
Note: Once you click OK, penny rounding is immediately active for all new cash transactions. No additional steps are required.
How Rounding Works at the Register
Once enabled, no cashier action is required. Rounding is triggered automatically when Cash is selected as the tender.
Before Tendering Cash
The sale screen shows the standard unrounded total. The cashier rings up items as normal, then selects Cash.
After Pressing Cash
The system instantly calculates the nearest 5 cent boundary, adds the Penny Round Up line item, updates the Total Due, and records the payment. Balance Due shows $0.00.
Note: In this example, the Sub-Total dropped from $80.82 to $80.80 after the negative $0.02 fee was applied, while Total Tax stayed at $5.05 unchanged. Tax is always calculated on the original item prices.
Rounding Rules
Liberty POS uses Nearest rounding, which finds the closest 5 cent boundary to the actual total and rounds toward it. The rules for every possible cents value are listed below.
- .00 and .05: No change. These are already on a 5 cent boundary. No fee is added.
- .01 rounds to .00: Round down by $0.01.
- .02 rounds to .00: Round down by $0.02.
- .03 rounds to .05: Round up by $0.02.
- .04 rounds to .05: Round up by $0.01.
- .06 rounds to .05: Round down by $0.01.
- .07 rounds to .05: Round down by $0.02.
- .08 rounds to .10: Round up by $0.02.
- .09 rounds to .10: Round up by $0.01.
Note: .X2 and .X7 are each 2 cents above the lower boundary and round down. .X3 and .X8 are 2 cents below the upper boundary and round up.
Live Transaction Examples
The following two transactions were captured from Liberty REACT POS with penny rounding active.
$85.87 Rounds Down to $85.85
Item: Gucci Boots at $80.82
Tax: $5.05
Original Total Due: $85.87
Rounding Adjustment: Penny Round Up, negative $0.02, rounds down
Cash Due: $85.85
The cents portion (.87) is 2 cents above the .85 boundary and 3 cents below .90, so it rounds down to .85. The customer saves $0.02.
$85.82 Rounds Down to $85.80
Item: Gucci Boots at $80.77
Tax: $5.05
Original Total Due: $85.82
Rounding Adjustment: Penny Round Up, negative $0.02, rounds down
Cash Due: $85.80
The cents portion (.82) is 2 cents above the .80 boundary and 3 cents below .85, so it rounds down to .80. The customer saves $0.02.
GL Posting and Reporting
Because the rounding adjustment is a Fee Type line item, it posts through Liberty POS's standard fee posting workflow.
- Positive adjustments (rounding up) post as income to the Penny Round Up GL account.
- Negative adjustments (rounding down) post as a negative to the same GL account.
- Over high transaction volume, the net impact on the GL account tends toward zero.
- The adjustment is visible in the Transaction Journal and any report that includes fee line items.
Disabling Penny Rounding
To turn off penny rounding at any time:
- Go to More, then Setup, then General.
- Set Rounding Kind back to None.
- Click OK.
Cash transactions will immediately return to exact cent amounts.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does rounding affect credit or debit card payments?
No. Only cash tenders are rounded. All other payment types settle to the exact cent.
What about split tender transactions?
The card portion is charged exactly. Rounding is applied only to the remaining cash due balance after the card payment is posted.
Does the rounding adjustment affect tax?
No. Tax is calculated on the original item prices before rounding. The Penny Round Up fee type has no Tax Type assigned, so it generates no additional tax.
Why is it called Penny Round Up if it can also round down?
The fee type name is user defined. You can name it anything. The same fee type handles both directions, posting a positive or negative amount as needed.
Can I round to a 10 cent increment instead of 5?
Yes. Change the Round To value in Setup General from 5 to 10. The same fee type works regardless of the increment.
Document maintained by: Support Team, Resale World
For questions, contact: support@resaleworld.com










