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In what cases can a business refuse to take cash?
They don't have to take cash if they reasonably told you in advance they don't take cash, because they made fair effort to prevent you from incurring a debt.  They don't have to take cash if the transaction hasn't yet happened (not a debt) or if it can be easily undone at no cost to either party - such as a newspaper subscription they can just stop delivering.  Both of these reasons are limited by the rules against discrimination, see below.  They don't have to take cash if it's impracticable. For instance a transit bus when fares first went to $1.00, it took years to fund new fareboxes able to take paper money.  You don't have to take a mortgage payment in pennies.  Liquor stores don't have to take $100 bills. (it requires them to keep too much change in the till, which makes them a robbery target).  Trouble arises when it appears there's an ulterior motive for the rule.   Suppose a Landlord Jim requires rent to be paid with EFT.  Rent-controlled Marcie tells the judge "It's a scheme to oust me, he knows I'm unbanked".  Jim counters "No. I got mugged last month because criminals know when I collect cash rents."  It will turn on whether Jim can show good-faith effort to work with his unbanked tenants to find other ways to pay. If Jim does a particularly bad job of this, he could find himself paying Marcie's legal bills! Even worse if the ulterior motive is discrimination. Chet the plumber hates Muslims. Alice the feed supplier hates the Amish.  So they decide to take credit cards only, knowing those people's religions don't allow them.  Their goose is cooked once they can't show any other reasonable reason to refuse cash.