Can limits be placed by a merchant on which currency notes are accepted as legal tender? [duplicate]
Can they reject a hundred dollar bill as a payment of debt?! No. A creditor cannot refuse payment in cash, whatever denomination you use. HOWEVER, when you're buying stuff - you don't owe anything to the business owner. There's no debt, so the above rule doesn't apply. As long as there's no debt in existence, the matter of payment is decided between two parties based on the mutual agreement. The demand not to use large bills is reasonable in places like 7/11 or taxi-cab that are frequently robbed, or at a small retailer that doesn't want to invest into forgery detection and fraud prevention. So the answer to this question: Is it the case where this practice of accepting small bills and   rejecting large bills is perfectly legal? Is yes. You can find the full explanation on Treasury.gov, including code references.
This article is very short on details. How much Bitcoin did he buy? If he spent $10k or more the bank is LEGALLY REQUIRED to ask why he is buying it, just as they would be if he was withdrawing the cash.  What's more, the threshold can be far lower than 10K, especially if it appears you  are doing multiple  transactions for  the express purpose  of being below 10K. Since the article explicitly said he did multiple transactions, this is a likely possibility as well. "He wants to send me money, as a gift. Do you know this friend? It could easily be a scam. What I don't know is that how much money can he send and what are the taxes that would be applicable in this case? There is no limit; you have to pay taxes as per your tax brackets. This will be added as ""income from other sources"". I'll probably be using that money to invest in stock market. If the idea is you will make profits from stock market and pay this back, you need to follow the Foreign Exchange Management Act. There are restrictions on transfer of funds outside of India." "There are firms that let you do this. I believe that Saxo Bank is one such firm (note that I'm not endorsing the company at all, and have no experience with it) Keep in mind that the reason that these currencies are ""exotic"" is because the markets for trading are small. Small markets are generally really bad for retail/non-professional investors.  (Also note: I'm not trying to insult Brazil or Thailand, which are major economies. In this context, I'm specifically concerned with currency trading volume.)" Yes. it is possible, I have seen many times banks permitting overdrawing and later charging a high courtesy fees. Of course in many countries this is not permitted. In one of my account, I am running negative balance as the bank has charged its commission which is not due. "Legal tender is by law any denominations of money printed by the Bank of Canada.  There is an exclusion to this in that it must also be acceptable to both parties of the transaction.  See the following link from the Bank of Canada on Legal Tender and look at the answer to the question of What is ""legal tender""? The reason retailers may refuse the ""legal tender"" is in the case of counterfeit prevention.  The stores that purchase the scanning machines are trying to be accommodating by deferring the decision to refuse the ""legal tender"" after verifying it (checking if it is acceptable)." Some aspect is legal some in grey area.  Please maintain proper documentation. Generally for amounts in question, there is less scrutiny from Income tax. Buying on behalf of your friends... First there is a limit of 250,000 USD, so fine on this point. Second is only licensed dealers can participate in FX. In your case, it can appear that you are acting as dealer.  On getting money back, this looks like gift and if it's more than 50,000 in a year it is taxable. Of course if you establish that it was convenience then no issues. So you need good amount of documentation, plus if you are getting paid after few months, tax can treat this as personal loan and arrive at deemed interest.  Edits: There is no guideline as to what the income tax will ask you, if there is a scrutiny. One would need to have paper work, a letter from friend requesting you to purchase things. You would have to keep a record of items ordered and match it with credit card statement. Proof that the goods were delivered to his address. Proof of equivalent credit entry from your friend into your bank statement. Reason why your friend could not do this himself. i.e. what is stopping him from getting a international debit/credit card?  So if you think you can convince that its convenience, yes, else taxes. I think the question relates to the discussion here: http://clarkhoward.com/liveweb/shownotes/2010/10/05/19449/ It was always the case that merchants could discount purchases made with cash.  What wasn't allowed is allowing the merchant to charge extra for credit card transactions (presumably to cover the fees the merchants pay).  These fees usually carry a flat fee per transaction, plus around 2% of the purchase price.  What also wasn't allowed was them to refuse any credit transactions.  People could charge a pack of gum, even if the fees put that transaction in the red. What's allowed according to this new development is different levels of discounting for different credit cards. Somewhat related to this discussion is another development that happened this summer: merchants now have the ability to refuse credit card transactions of less than $10. Here's my feeling on all of this.  I think we'll see merchants imposing minimum credit transaction amounts before we see them monkeying at the 1-2% level on pricing for different types of credit cards.  My feeling is that they'd be wise not to change anything, even though they can.  Refusing transactions (or charging more for others) is going to come as a unpleasant shock to enough people that they may take their business elsewhere. Huh. It appears it's only currencies in sterling that are fully exempt. https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/capital-gains-manual/cg12602   Government manuals are more detailed than .gov but still not perfect as it's HMRCs interpretation of legislation and has been overturned in the past.  There is also another (old) article here about foreign currency transactions. https://www.taxation.co.uk/articles/2010/10/27/21191/currency-gains  I have never come across forex capital gains in practice but I've learnt something today! Something to look out for in the UK as well I guess. Well first of all which Asian currency are you talking about,why i ask is because some Asian currencies are not fully convertible.So a bank may not accept them. So first you need to find out if they are fully convertible or not,if not then the best thing you can do is find a travel agent who have tourist packages to that country and they will buy,as they can later sell it to people going to that country. In theory there is no limit to the value of a cheque that you can write. However, that doesn't mean the bank will honour it even if you have sufficient funds in your account - if it appears out of the ordinary, they may block it on suspicion of fraud or money laundering. It doesn't rely in the first item. A legal tender law certainly makes it easier for the banker to find goods with his dollars, but you can have the exact same scenario I described above in a competing currency system.  Typically the Cantillion Effect has bankers disadvantaged because they get their interest payment after the inflation effects prices. It is the primary loan receiver who gets the best value. Well, that would be a breach of contract. I'm not sure whether it would trump the legal tender law or not (IANAL).  &gt;If people voluntarily choose to, what's the problem?  Nothing. Nothing at all is the problem, which is why i'm not sure why you aren't doing so right now. It's perfectly legal. "This is most likely protecting Square's relationship with Visa/Mastercard/AMEX/etc. Credit card companies typically charge their customers a much higher interest rate with no grace period on cash advances (withdrawals made from an ATM using a credit card). If you use Square to generate something that looks like a ""merchandise transaction"" but instead just hand over a wad of banknotes, you're forcing the credit card company to apply their cheaper ""purchases"" interest rate on the transaction, plus award any applicable cashback offers†, etc. Square would absolutely profit off of this, but since it would result in less revenue for the partner credit card companies, that would quickly sour the relationship and could even result in them terminating their agreements with Square altogether. † This is the kind of activity they are trying to prevent:  1. Bill yourself $5,000 for ""merchandise"", but instead give yourself cash.  2. Earn 1.5% cashback ($75).  3. Use $4,925 of the cash and a $75 statement credit to pay your credit card statement.  4. Pocket the difference.  5. Repeat. Note, the fees involved probably negate any potential gain shown in this example, but I'm sure with enough creative thinking someone would figure out a way to game the system if it wasn't expressly forbidden in the terms of service" When you're selling something through a provider, like Craig's List or newspapers, the only thing that may limit your choices is the provider. They may refuse your post if it's against their rules or the law. But luckily they usually don't limit or enforce certain payment choices.  These private business providers have the right to do so if they want. You don't need to be their customer. They may state their terms for using the service and even refuse service (before any payment is made).  The fun part is that you may do so as well. Just remember to state your terms in your post so the prospective buyers are aware of them. I've found it best to put payment and delivery terms in separate lines so that they are easily noticeable, for example: Nice victorian handbasket with gold embroidery, only used once. Signed by the original author. Comes with a certificate of authenticity. No delivery, only cash payments. Contrary to what many people think, credit card companies pass nearly all fraud costs via purchased goods onto the merchant who sells them. As a result, they stand a very high chance of getting the money from a fraudulent purchase of a specific purchased item back, as they just chargeback the merchant who has to stomach the cost. This is not the case for cash transactions obviously, where as soon as the money leaves the ATM fraudulently it is as good as gone. As a result, the risk profile of the two types of transaction is wildly different, and the credit limits of each reflect this.