> Is it legal for a business in the United States to refuse cash as a form of payment?
> There is no federal statute mandating that a private business, a person, or an organization must accept currency or coins as payment for goods or services. Private businesses are free to develop their own policies on whether to accept cash unless there is a state law that says otherwise.
In 2009, some Detroit businesses agreed to accept a local currency called a Detroit Cheers (aka Detroit Community Scrip) [0]. Per Wikipedia “ Modeled upon the local scrip that were used during the Great Depression, it was being used to restore local financial confidence following decades of economic decline. ”
Taxes would be based on fair market value at the time of the transaction. There are policies around this already, otherwise the rich could avoid taxes by bartering with cars/watches/paintings.
Sounds like it's just making work for the IRS. I'm curious if the situation is the same in Australia. Can't find anything definitive online, though I've never heard of a business here taking payment in anything other than AUD (except at the airport, where many retailers will accept other common currencies).
Is it similarly legal (in the US) to pay workers in "alternative" currency-substitutes?
