Can I pay the IRS in pennies? No, I’m serious.

Can I pay the IRS in pennies? No, I’m serious. The screwed up system of our government has decided that I owe more money than I really should. We are not going to argue whether I am right or wrong in this thread, rather I want to know if it is possible for me to send in payments via large amounts of pennies. I want my government Bean counters to count my beans

I suspect the price of shipping would kill any joy. 

I think you can, technically, although in reality probably not. 

The first question is, can you pay in cash. Yes you can. However, assuming we're talking about real money here, I don't know if it is actually possible. Potential reasons why you may not actually be able to: 

• They limit it at $1,000 per day. If you owe over $2,000, I believe you're limited in the amount of payments you can make per time period. So paying in cash may not be possible if it is over a certain amount. 
• While the penny is legal tender for all debts public and private, you don't hold a debt with 7-11 (the retail partner). So they may be able to refuse the payment (don't know, would have to dig further on that one)
• It takes a long time to physically count it. They may say "we can't take this". Similar to the above, I'm not sure on the legalities of it. 

Ultimately, I don't think that you're doing anything here other than causing more effort for yourself and the 7-11 employee. It wouldn't even be an IRS employee counting it, so... why? 

The Lehigh University Bursar's office was extremely aggressive and offensive in their communications.  Several weeks before tuition payments were even due, they would start sending letters outlining all the various late fees if you didn't pay on time.  They just assumed from the outset you were a berkup who was going to try to screw them, with no assumption that you were going to actually meet the deadlines unless threatened.

My father operated a string of self-serve, coin-op carwashes at the time.

Before one of my later semesters, I made a 2-hour drive to pay approximately $5,500 in tuition and fees on the due date.

In rolled quarters.

At 3:00p on a Friday afternoon.

And I made them give me a paid-in-full receipt.

There was a time, 3 IRS agents doing a really good men in black impersonation showed up at my retail store and took my cash register. I still owed $24.00 AFTER they had already cleaned out every bank account affiliated with my social security number, including the payroll checking account. They held the cash register for $24.00 ransom. I went home and gathered up $24.00 in change and went to the IRS office and presented it to them and demanded they release the cash register. They counted it manually 3 times on a conference table while I watched before releasing the cash register. True story.

Alright. Dammit. Guess I'll piss and moan and in the end, take it in ass. HUGE MIDDLE FINGER UNCLE SAM. 

NOT A TA said:

There was a time, 3 IRS agents doing a really good men in black impersonation showed up at my retail store and took my cash register. I still owed $24.00 AFTER they had already cleaned out every bank account affiliated with my social security number, including the payroll checking account. They held the cash register for $24.00 ransom. I went home and gathered up $24.00 in change and went to the IRS office and presented it to them and demanded they release the cash register. They counted it manually 3 times on a conference table while I watched before releasing the cash register. True story.

The blue collar man's hero. 

It sounds like a great way to insure audits for several years.  

_ said:

NOT A TA said:

There was a time, 3 IRS agents doing a really good men in black impersonation showed up at my retail store and took my cash register. I still owed $24.00 AFTER they had already cleaned out every bank account affiliated with my social security number, including the payroll checking account. They held the cash register for $24.00 ransom. I went home and gathered up $24.00 in change and went to the IRS office and presented it to them and demanded they release the cash register. They counted it manually 3 times on a conference table while I watched before releasing the cash register. True story.

The blue collar man's hero. 

I was young and learned a very expensive lesson on how business taxes are calculated. I thought by not paying myself much and plowing profits back into businesses I could build the businesses quicker and would only have to pay income tax on the money I took as a draw which I considered my pay. Doesn't work that way.

I can assure you that the folks counting your pennies are not the same folks who decide how much you pay.

It's ok to be mad though.

If you've got all copper pennies, they're worth more as copper than they are as pennies. You're also not supposed to deface currency.

Just sayin'

I once payed for $24 worth of CDs at Best buy (remember both of those?) a few days before Christmas. 

With nickels and dimes...that I carried in a dirty knee sock.

I'm suprised I wasn't lynched. 

I don't know about the US, but in Canada there are legal limits to how much anyone is obligated to accept in coins, increasing amounts for larger coins. I think it was $1.00 in pennies, back when we still used those.

Duke said:

The Lehigh University Bursar's office was extremely aggressive and offensive

 

This didn't change by the time I got there, maybe it was worse. If the university parking authority could match a registration to your account it went right on your bill. We managed to figure out that they had no authority if you didn't have an account (no towing, no way to collect the fine) so some license plate swapping went a long way. Unfortunately they caught on the year after I left. 

I'm reminded of the absolute mad lad who paid a bogus $37 speeding ticket with one dollar bills folded into origami pigs and delivered in Dunkin Donuts boxes directly to the police station.