Cash float calculator
How much change should I bring, and should I round my prices for cash?
Showing for United States
Change for one sale
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- Change to bring
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- Buyers who need change from that note
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- Pieces of 20.00
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- Pieces of 10.00
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- Pieces of 5.00
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- Pieces of 2.00
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- Pieces of 1.00
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- Pieces of 0.50
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- Pieces of 0.25
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- Pieces of 0.20
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- Pieces of 0.10
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- Pieces of 0.05
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- Pieces of 0.02
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- Pieces of 0.01
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This is the change to bring if every buyer counted pays with that note and nobody pays in coins you can hand back. Notes paid in are left out, so it errs on the side of too much.
Change is counted the way a till gives it, largest note or coin first, using the notes and coins in everyday use in your currency.
If you would rather not give the smallest coins, round your prices with the other mode first: prices that end in 0 or 5 never need them. In the US, the Mint stopped making pennies in November 2025; they are still legal tender.
New price customers pay
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- Change in the price customers pay
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- What you keep of the new price, before tax
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- What customers pay today, tax included
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- Change in what you keep each week
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- Margin today (% of the price before tax)
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- Margin at the new price (% of the price before tax)
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Enter the sales tax or VAT rate you add to the price, or 0 if you charge none. This calculator does not tell you which rate applies or what is taxable.
The price customers pay is rounded to the nearest step you choose, and a price exactly halfway goes up. What you keep is the new price with the tax taken back out.
Enter your numbers to see the result.
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Get started with TallyTill for freeUse this calculator in an AI chat
You can ask Claude, ChatGPT or another AI app to work this out for you, and this calculator opens right inside the chat. You connect TallyTill to your AI app once. It is free, and there is no account and no sign-in.
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1. Copy this address
2. Add it to your AI app
Claude (claude.ai and the Claude desktop app)
- Open Customize, then Connectors.
- Press + Add, then Add custom connector.
- Name it TallyTill calculators, paste the address and press Continue.
- Under Authentication choose No sign in, then press Add.
- In a new chat, press + at the bottom left, choose Connectors and switch TallyTill calculators on.
On Claude's free plan you can add one custom connector.
ChatGPT
- In Settings, turn on Developer mode. OpenAI moves this switch from time to time; it is usually with the settings for apps and connectors.
- Add a new connector (ChatGPT may call it an app), paste the address and choose No authentication.
- In a new chat, choose TallyTill from the tools menu, or type @ and pick it.
Not every ChatGPT plan lets you add your own connector. If you cannot find the option, your plan may not include it.
Using another AI app? Look in its settings for MCP, add the address as a remote server, and choose no sign-in.
3. Ask your question
Say "use TallyTill", so the AI uses the calculator instead of doing the sum itself. For example:
"Use TallyTill: How much change should I bring, and should I round my prices for cash?"
What you will see
- The calculator opens in the chat with the numbers you gave already filled in. Change any number and the answer updates.
- If a number is missing, the box is highlighted, or the AI asks you for it in plain words.
- The answer links back to this page, so you can check the working.
- The first time, your AI app asks if it may use TallyTill. Choose Allow.
The calculators take numbers only. They never ask for your name, your email or a password.
How this is worked out
The change for one sale is the note a customer pays with less the price. The buyers who need change are your cash sales times the share who pay with that note, rounded up to a whole buyer, and the change to bring is the change for one sale times those buyers. It is broken into notes and coins the way a till gives it, largest first. To round a price, the price customers pay today is the price before tax times 100 plus the tax rate, divided by 100, to the cent; it is rounded to the nearest step you choose, a half step going up. What you keep is the new price times 100 divided by 100 plus the tax rate. The weekly change is the new price less the old, before tax, times the items a week.
A worked example
Example numbers only; use your own. Eggs are 4.50 and most cash buyers pay with a 20. Of 40 cash sales a day, 75 percent pay that way, so 30 buyers need 15.50 each: bring 465.00 in change, as 30 tens, 30 fives and 60 quarters. To round prices, an item at 2.75 before a 7 percent sales tax is 2.94 to the customer; rounded to the nearest 0.25 it is 3.00, of which you keep 2.80. On 40 a week that is 2.15 more, and with a cost of 1.25 your margin goes from 54.55 to 55.42 percent.
Nothing you type here is saved.