How should an HOA treasurer handle an owner who pays dues in cash?

By OurHOA · General information · Revised October 18, 2026

Can an HOA refuse cash for dues? How a treasurer handles cash payments safely: two-person counts, numbered receipts, quick deposits and the $10,000 reporting rules.

Part of the HOA board handbook: treasurer and money.

The short answer

Take the cash unless your governing documents or an adopted board policy say otherwise, and handle it so nobody can later question where it went. No federal law makes a private organization accept cash, so most associations get to choose their payment methods. But turning away an owner who has no bank account can leave an assessment unpaid for months and start an argument about whether the owner tried to pay. For an association of 26 to 150 homes, the answer that works is a short written cash policy. Owners pay cash at one place and time. Two board members count it. The owner leaves with a numbered receipt. The money is in the bank within two business days, and nobody spends a dollar of it before then. Rules vary by state and by your declaration, bylaws and collection policy, so treat this as general education, not legal advice.

Can the board say no to cash

The Federal Reserve's answer is that no federal statute requires a private business, person or organization to accept currency or coins. The legal tender law, 31 U.S.C. 5103, makes cash a valid offer of payment for a debt. It does not force the creditor to take it. That leaves the question to state law and your documents. Read the declaration and bylaws first. Some say where and how assessments are paid. If they are silent, the board can usually set payment methods by a policy adopted at an open meeting. Colorado boards have one more thing to check. HB21-1048, signed in May 2021 and effective September 7, 2021, requires retail establishments that offer goods or services to accept cash, with exceptions that include places where no one takes payment in person. The bill is aimed at stores and service businesses and does not mention associations or assessments. A Colorado board that wants a no-cash rule should ask its attorney whether the law reaches the association before adopting one. Even where refusal is allowed, think about who it hits: often an owner without a bank account, or one trying to catch up after a delinquency notice. Sending that owner away does not collect the debt. If the board does stop taking cash, offer an alternative that costs the owner little, such as a money order, give several months of notice, and apply the rule to every owner, directors included.

Set up the routine before the first envelope

Build the routine around two rules: nobody counts alone, and nothing sits at a volunteer's house. 1. Name one way to pay cash. Pick a fixed time and place, such as the first board meeting of each month or one hour at the clubhouse, plus appointments with the treasurer. No cash in the mailbox or handed to whichever director is at the pool. 2. Count with two people. The treasurer and a second director count the money in front of the owner, and both initial the receipt. 3. Write the receipt on the spot from a prenumbered book with carbon copies, or from the accounting system. It shows the date, owner name, lot or account number, the amount in figures and words, what the owner said it was for, and both sets of initials. Never skip a number. Mark a spoiled receipt void and leave it in the book. 4. Deposit it intact within two business days. Do not pay a vendor, make change or reimburse a volunteer out of the cash. Every dollar goes into the bank exactly as it came in. 5. Keep the cash in a locked deposit bag between the count and the bank, and write the deposit slip number on the receipt stub. 6. Reconcile every month. A director who never handles cash compares the receipt stubs to the bank deposits and the owner ledger, then signs and dates the comparison.

Records and how the payment is applied

The receipt book is an accounting record, and state law expects you to keep it. Florida section 720.303(4) lists accurate, itemized and detailed records of all receipts and expenditures among an HOA's official records and requires keeping official records for at least 7 years. Colorado section 38-33.3-317(1)(a) requires detailed records of receipts and expenditures affecting the operation and administration of the association. Texas chapter 209 has no separate rule for payment receipts, so keep the stubs with the bank statements for as long as your records retention policy keeps financial records. Post cash the same way you post a check, in the order your state requires. Texas Property Code section 209.0063(a) applies a payment to delinquent assessments, then current assessments, then attorney fees and collection costs, then fines, then anything else, with a separate rule for an owner in default on a payment plan. Florida section 720.3085(3)(b) applies an accepted payment to interest, then the administrative late fee, then collection costs and attorney fees, then the delinquent assessment, regardless of any instruction that comes with it. Colorado section 38-33.3-316.3(4) applies a payment to assessments before fines, fees and other charges. If an owner hands over $400 and says it is for the special assessment only, write that on the receipt. Then post it the way the statute says and send the owner a statement that shows where it went. Our guide on handling a bounced HOA dues payment explains the same order for checks that come back.

Large cash payments and federal reporting

Regular dues are far below any federal reporting line. The cases that cross it are a large delinquency, special assessment or presale payoff paid in currency. Banks report each cash deposit of more than $10,000 under 31 C.F.R. 1010.311. That filing is the bank's job. Separately, a trade or business that receives more than $10,000 in cash in one transaction or in related transactions must file IRS Form 8300, generally within 15 days. The IRS adds installments together: if the first payment is $10,000 or less, count the later cash payments made within one year of it and file once the total passes $10,000. Personal checks do not count as cash for this rule. Whether an association collecting assessments is a trade or business for Form 8300 purposes is a question for the association's CPA, and the time to ask is before the money changes hands. Never split a large cash payment into smaller deposits, and never agree when an owner asks to pay in pieces so nothing gets reported. Breaking up cash to avoid a bank report or a Form 8300 is structuring, which 31 U.S.C. 5324 makes a federal crime whether or not the money is clean. When an owner wants to pay $12,000 in currency, ask for a cashier's check instead.

Check that the insurance covers whoever holds the money

Cash in a volunteer's car is association money in the hands of someone the policy may not name. Florida section 720.3033(5) requires an HOA to carry insurance or a fidelity bond for all persons who control or disburse association funds, which includes check signers and the president, secretary and treasurer. The coverage must equal the most money the association or its manager holds at any one time. Owners can waive the requirement each year by a majority of the voting interests present at a properly called meeting. In Colorado, section 38-33.3-306(3)(a) says that when an association with 30 or more units hands collection or deposit of funds to a managing agent or other persons, the bylaws must require that agent to carry fidelity coverage or a bond of at least $50,000. Wherever you are, send the agent a short written question: does the crime or fidelity policy cover volunteers who are not officers, and does it cover money between the count and the bank? Our guide on HOA fidelity bonds and embezzlement protection covers how to size the policy.

Wording the board can use

A policy paragraph for the owner handbook and the next statement: "Cash payments. The association accepts cash for assessments and other charges at [place] on [day and time], or by appointment with the treasurer. Two board members will count your payment with you and give you a numbered receipt signed by both. The association credits only cash that two board members have counted and receipted, so please do not leave cash in the mailbox, at the clubhouse or with a single board member. For payments over $[amount], please bring a cashier's check or money order." A motion for the minutes: "I move that the board adopt the cash payment procedure presented today, effective [date], requiring two-person counts, prenumbered receipts and deposit within two business days, and that the secretary send the procedure to all owners with the next statement." A sample month: on the first Tuesday, an owner pays $285 at the board meeting, two directors count it, and receipt 0142 goes to the owner. On Wednesday the treasurer deposits it and writes the deposit slip number on the stub. That week the payment is posted to the ledger. At month end a third director matches stubs 0138 to 0145 against the bank statement and signs off.

Mistakes boards make

One director collects cash at the pool and turns it in later. Later is where cash disappears. Paying the landscaper or buying pool chemicals with owner cash. The bank statement then shows less money in than the receipt book does, and nobody can prove why. Receipts on scrap paper, or none at all. A receipt the owner cannot produce becomes a dispute at resale. Holding cash for weeks until there is enough to justify a trip to the bank. Refusing cash from one owner while taking it from others. Apply one rule to everyone. Splitting a large payment into deposits under $10,000 because someone heard that keeps the bank quiet. Never telling the insurance agent that volunteers handle cash.

Sources

These guides are general education for HOA boards and residents, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Rules vary by state and by your community's governing documents - check with a professional for your situation.

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