Yes, you can tape money. Taping a torn bill back together is legal, and in most everyday situations it is the simplest way to keep the bill usable. Federal law only criminalizes damaging currency when the person doing it intends to render the note unfit for reissue, and a repair is the opposite of that. The catch is acceptance: a taped bill will usually pass at a bank teller window or a store counter, but ATMs and the Federal Reserve’s sorting machines are far less forgiving, and a badly damaged bill needs a different process entirely.
Is Taping a Bill Actually Legal?
It is. The federal statute on damaging paper currency, 18 U.S.C. 333, covers cutting, defacing, perforating, or “cementing together” a Federal Reserve note, but only when done “with intent to render … unfit to be reissued.”1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 333 – Mutilation of National Bank Obligations Penalties run up to a fine, six months in prison, or both. Taping a tear so you can keep spending the bill is repair, not mutilation. The law targets people trying to destroy money or defraud, not people trying to keep a twenty from falling apart in their wallet.
Where a Taped Bill Will Be Accepted
Most banks will take a taped bill at the teller window without a fuss, as long as more than half the note is present and the serial numbers are legible. The Federal Reserve says dirty or worn currency can be exchanged at commercial financial institutions.2Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. What Should I Do if I Have Damaged or Mutilated Currency? In the government’s terminology, a bill that is torn, worn, or defaced but still clearly identifiable as U.S. currency is “unfit,” and unfit bills can be exchanged at any commercial bank with no special process.3eCFR. Subpart B – Request for Examination of Mutilated Currency for Possible Redemption
ATMs are the weak point. Deposit machines rely on sensors that measure color, firmness, and readability, and even a thin strip of tape can throw those readings off and cause a jam or rejection. If you are depositing cash, set taped bills aside and hand them to a teller.
Retail stores are less predictable, and here the law tips against you. No federal statute forces a private business to accept any particular bill, or cash at all. The Federal Reserve states plainly that “there is no federal statute mandating that a private business, a person, or an organization must accept currency or coins as payment for goods or services.”4Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Is It Legal for a Business in the United States to Refuse Cash? The legal tender statute applies to debts, taxes, and public charges, not to a purchase at the register where no debt exists yet.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 31 US Code 5103 – Legal Tender A cashier who waves off your taped twenty is not breaking any rule.
Even a bill that is accepted at the counter is living on borrowed time. Federal Reserve fitness guidelines flag any note with tape longer than 9 millimeters as unfit for recirculation, so once a taped bill reaches a Fed sorting facility it gets pulled and shredded.6Federal Reserve Financial Services. Fitness Guidelines for Federal Reserve Notes That does not affect its value to you. It just means the note is on its final lap.
How to Tape a Bill So People Will Take It
The goal is a repair that holds the note together while staying as invisible as possible to eyes and to machines. A few things help:
- Use clear, matte-finish tape. Glossy tape can obscure security features and make the bill look altered.
- Line the torn edges up precisely before you press the tape down.
- Use only as much tape as the tear needs. A short, thin strip attracts less suspicion than a long band wrapping across the bill, and it stays under the 9 mm threshold the Fed’s machines look for.
- Keep tape off the serial numbers, the watermark, and any color-shifting ink on higher denominations. These are the features banks and merchants check first when deciding whether a bill looks legitimate.
If the tear runs through a security feature and your tape covers it, expect more pushback at the point of acceptance.
When a Bill Is Too Damaged to Tape
Tape is for a bill that is mostly whole. If a note is charred, dissolved by water or chemicals, chewed apart, or reduced to fragments where half or less of the original remains, it counts as “mutilated” rather than merely unfit, and banks will not exchange it.7Bureau of Engraving & Printing (BEP). Mutilated Currency Redemption Mutilated currency goes to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing for free examination and possible redemption. The BEP redeems full value when clearly more than 50% of a note remains along with sufficient security features, and it can still redeem a note where 50% or less remains if you can show the missing portion was totally destroyed.
One thing to know before you send anything in: if the currency was flat when it became mutilated, the BEP explicitly instructs you not to roll, fold, laminate, tape, glue, or otherwise alter it before submitting.3eCFR. Subpart B – Request for Examination of Mutilated Currency for Possible Redemption Taping fragments together can interfere with the examiners’ ability to authenticate the note, and a pattern that suggests intentional mutilation or an attempt to defraud will get the claim denied. Package the pieces carefully so they do not take more damage in transit, but leave them alone.
What About Damaged Coins?
Tape is not the answer for coins, and the options have narrowed. Worn but whole coins can be deposited at a bank and moved through the Federal Reserve’s Uncurrent Coin Redemption Program.8eCFR. Subpart C – Request for Examination of Coin for Possible Redemption Bent, partial, or fused coins are harder to unload. The U.S. Mint closed its bent and partial coin exchange program on October 25, 2024, citing counterfeiting concerns and the difficulty of authenticating damaged coins.9Federal Register. Exchange of Coin Neither the Mint nor the Federal Reserve redeems them now. Coin damage law is also stricter than paper: 18 U.S.C. 331 makes fraudulently altering, defacing, or diminishing U.S. coins a felony carrying up to five years in prison, though the word “fraudulently” matters — a souvenir elongated penny from a tourist machine is not what the statute targets.
For a torn bill, the practical answer is short. Line the edges up, put a small strip of clear tape across the tear, and take it to a teller or spend it. The law is on your side, and the bill will do its job until a sorting machine finally retires it.