Cash Requirements for Stores & Pharmacies 2026/2027 – Till Policy, Customer Signage and Exception Protocol | Word/PDF/Excel

Must a grocery store or pharmacy accept cash – and when can staff refuse payment? From July 1, 2026, a special Swedish law on cash payments, SFS 2026:769, applies to certain physical retail outlets with manned checkouts. Here you will find practical, editable documents for the store's cash policy, checkout staff decisions, objective customer information, protocols for when cash is refused, and a special assessment of security or cash handling costs.

The 2026/2027 legal limits: The obligation under Section 1 applies to payments of no more than 0.1 price base amount and no more than 25 coins. This corresponds to SEK 5,920 in 2026 and SEK 5,960 in 2027. These amounts are the control limits for this special law – it is not prohibited to voluntarily accept larger cash payments or more coins. There are also exceptions that must be assessed based on concrete facts.

You get: five Swedish document templates, a Swedish user guide and an English User Guide – all in both Word (DOCX) and searchable, printable PDF – plus Excel with nine tabs and 314 administrative formulas. That is 7 DOCX + 7 PDF + 1 XLSX = 15 customer files in a ZIP. The PDF files are not interactively fillable; use Word when you want to edit the text.

Who Is the Product Designed For?

Particularly suitable for: grocery stores in retail and pharmacies at physical retail outlets that have manned checkouts. Store managers, regional managers, checkout staff, internal control, and the business's finance/security managers can also use it. Example: a grocery store that needs to introduce a uniform instruction for cash purchases, or a pharmacy that needs to document an individual objective exception.

Not suitable without adaptation: restaurants or cafes that are not covered by the special law's definitions, pure web stores, unmanned checkouts, or banking operations. The package is not a cash book, a receipt system, a cash handling app, or a general instruction for anti-money laundering reporting. For actual accounting, there is a separate Cash Book & Daily Cash Register.

Exact Contents – 15 Customer Files

Excel – Nine Interconnected Tabs

Read Me, Overview, Units, Amount Limits, Payments, Refusals, Risk Assessment, Actions, and Sources. Enter each actual store and checkout as well as purchase amount, coin count, and payment year. Excel calculates the law's amount limit from the price base amount for 2026 or 2027, and can display "WITHIN MAIN RULE", "OUTSIDE MAIN RULE", or "CHECK INPUT". In the event of a possible exception, the need for manual exception review is displayed. The underlying data is registered without test customer data, without macros, and without connection to external systems.

Six test cases have been verified: a purchase at the limit in 2026, a purchase over the limit, more than 25 coins, a purchase at the limit in 2027 with an uncertain exception, a negative amount, and a year specified as text in Excel. The results only make an initial administrative assessment and do not replace an actual legal decision.

How to Introduce the Cash Payment Routine – Step by Step

1. Check the business: is it really a grocery store in retail or a pharmacy, with a physical manned checkout?
2. Establish responsibility: specify the store manager, applicable retail outlets, escalation path, and actual staffing times.
3. Check the year and amount: use the 2026 limit of SEK 5,920 or the 2027 limit of SEK 5,960 and no more than 25 coins. Check later years again.
4. Introduce the checkout instructions: distinguish the main obligation from exceptions, purchases outside the law's amount/coin limit, and suspected counterfeit cash.
5. Customize the customer sign: fill in actual location details before posting; do not state a general cash ban.
6. Handle the refusal: document actual individual reasons and which paragraph is cited; send difficult cases to the responsible manager.
7. Follow up: use the Excel overview and save decisions, evidence, and actions according to the business's data protection and documentation routines.

What Does the Law (2026:769) Say – and What Does It Not Say?

Section 1 – main obligation: grocery stores in retail and pharmacies shall accept banknotes and coins at physical retail outlets with manned checkouts, for payments covered by the law's amount and coin limit. The price base amount for 2026 is SEK 59,200 (0.1 = SEK 5,920) and for 2027 SEK 59,600 (0.1 = SEK 5,960). Read the law text at the Riksdag.

Section 2 – business-level limitations: the obligation does not apply when security cannot be maintained at the retail outlet in question, or when the cost of handling cash makes it impossible to keep the retail outlet open. This requires concrete factual information; a desire for a cashless environment is not automatically such an exception.

Section 3 – individual purchases: an acceptable reason may allow cash payment to be refused at a particular sale. It must not be arbitrary. The preparatory works discuss, for example, a full cash register or suspected money laundering in a special situation – there is no general obligation to categorically reject a customer on such generic grounds. Read the preparatory works, prop. 2025/26:199.

Connection to accounting and security: the new requirements regulate when payment should normally be accepted. The store's cash register, accounting, change handling, occupational health and safety, anti-money laundering rules, and data protection must be assessed separately when relevant. A Word template does not make a store legally compliant.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is cash payment mandatory in all Swedish stores?

No. This special law from July 1, 2026, concerns grocery stores in retail and pharmacies with a physical manned checkout. There are also statutory limits and exceptions.

How large a cash purchase should a grocery store normally accept in 2027?

A purchase of no more than SEK 5,960 and no more than 25 coins is covered as a starting point by the special cash obligation at a manned checkout. Certain exceptions may become relevant in real circumstances.

Can a store refuse if the customer wants to use 26 coins?

With more than 25 coins, the special obligation of Section 1 does not apply. The law does not say that it is prohibited to voluntarily accept 26 coins. Check other applicable rules and the business's actual conditions.

Can a pharmacy refuse banknotes to a customer for security reasons?

This requires concrete review according to the law's exceptions. SFS 2026:769 Section 2 refers to when security cannot be maintained on site and Section 3 to an acceptable reason at an individual purchase. An abstract or general cash ban is not automatically permitted.

Is the customer sign completely ready to print?

It contains a special printable A4 page. Before use, the store's name, contact method, applicable checkout, and other location details must be filled in and checked.

Are the PDF files digitally fillable?

No. The PDF files are searchable and printable copies, without interactive form fields. Use the seven DOCX files for editing.

Is everything in English?

No. Five work templates, a Swedish guide, and Excel are in Swedish. The English User Guide provides instructions on the Swedish files; it is not a full translation of the main templates.

Official Legal Sources and Quality Assurance

SFS 2026:769, §§ 1–3; SFS 2025:872, 2026 price base amount; SFS 2026:1779, 2027 price base amount; and the government's proposition 2025/26:199.

Version 1.0, AI-assisted legal source check November 8, 2026. The documents have been technically checked for editable DOCX, searchable A4 PDF, Excel tables, formulas, test scenarios, and ZIP integrity. No independent legal review or authority certification has been carried out. The document package must be adapted and assessed for the individual retail outlet.