Can I pay for goods or a service with 15,000 euros in cash?
No — at least not to a business. Anyone carrying on a registered business in Croatia may neither receive nor make a cash payment of 10,000 euros or more (čl. 55. ZSPNFT, the anti-money-laundering act), so no company or sole trader may accept your 15,000 euros in cash. Between two private individuals there is no limit. The myth "cash is legal tender, so there is no limit" collapses immediately: the euro is legal tender, but anti-money-laundering rules have capped business cash since 2023, and between fiscalisation obligors (B2B) the ceiling is only 700 euros per invoice. The ceiling sits on the business side — your offer has to be refused.
📋 The rules
- A 10,000 euro cash ceiling (banknotes and coins) for legal persons, sole traders and others with a registered business — it applies to both receiving and paying, and to several obviously linked transactions that together reach 10,000 euros (čl. 55. st. 1.–2. ZSPNFT; the previous 75,000 kn was replaced by 10,000 euros on 1 January 2023, NN 151/22).
- Between fiscalisation obligors (B2B/B2G) cash is restricted far more tightly: at most 700 euros per single invoice for goods and services (čl. 30. st. 3. of the new Fiscalisation Act, NN 89/25, in force from 1 September 2025 — the same limit applied under the old act).
- Cash received above the set cash-desk maximum must be paid into the business account the same or the next working day; a business whose account is blocked (the payment-order register) may neither pay in cash nor hold cash (čl. 30. st. 6.–8., NN 89/25).
- Every cash transaction of 10,000 euros or more must be reported within 3 days to the Anti-Money Laundering Office (čl. 61. ZSPNFT; the threshold dropped from 200,000 kn to 10,000 euros on 1 January 2023) — that is a reporting duty, not a ban.
- From 10 July 2027 the EU cash ceiling of 10,000 euros applies directly as well (Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, art. 80) — for payments where at least one side acts professionally, with mandatory identification of the customer for cash between 3,000 and 10,000 euros; member states may keep or introduce stricter limits.
🔓 Exceptions
- Purely private payments between citizens (C2C) — two private individuals selling a car or a flat, for example — are not covered by čl. 55. (confirmed in the Ministry of Finance Q&A on the ZSPNFT), and the 2027 EU ceiling likewise exempts payments between private persons outside a professional activity.
- Card payment is not "cash": the 700 and 10,000 euro limits concern banknotes and coins, while debit and credit card payments are not restricted by these rules.
- Currency exchange is not the "collection or payment" for goods and services, so čl. 55. does not block it even above the threshold (Ministry of Finance Q&A); depositing or withdrawing your own cash at a bank is not a purchase either, but it does trigger reporting and identity checks.
⚠️ Penalties & fines
Breaching čl. 55. is an offence — and here is the trap: the ZSPNFT penalty provisions are still written in KUNA. For a legal person it is 35,000–350,000 kn, which at the fixed rate of 1 EUR = 7.53450 HRK is roughly 4,645–46,453 euros, plus 5,000–35,000 kn (about 664–4,645 euros) for the responsible person; the euro figures circulating on blogs could not be confirmed in the official text. Paying in breach of the 700 euro rule is fined 1,320–26,540 euros for a legal person and 260–2,650 euros for the responsible person (čl. 73., NN 89/25). Second order: a 10,000 euro cash report goes to the Anti-Money Laundering Office — expect questions about where the money came from, possible freezes and a refused bank deposit.
📎 Official sources
- Narodne novine (NN) · the official gazette (NN 151/22 — ZSPNFT; NN 89/25 — Fiscalisation Act) →
- Ministry of Finance · home page (answers to frequent questions on applying the ZSPNFT) →
- EUR-Lex · EU law portal (Regulation (EU) 2024/1624 on preventing money laundering) →
❓ Frequently asked
Can I pay a private seller for a car in cash with no limit?
Between two private individuals čl. 55. ZSPNFT sets no limit, and the Ministry of Finance Q&A confirms it. If you buy from a dealership or a sole trader, the 10,000 euro ceiling applies because the seller carries on a registered business.
Does the 700 euro limit only start in 2026?
No, it has applied since 1 September 2025, when the new Fiscalisation Act (NN 89/25) came into force, and the same limit existed under the old act. The claim on some blogs that it starts on 1 January 2026 is wrong.
Why are the fines in the act still in kuna?
The ZSPNFT penalty provisions were never converted into euros, so the act still says 35,000–350,000 kn for a legal person. At the fixed rate of 7.53450 that is roughly 4,645–46,453 euros, but we found no official euro figure.
Can I pay 12,000 euros by card?
You can. The 700 and 10,000 euro restrictions apply to banknotes and coins, not to card payments, which these rules do not cap. Your bank and the merchant may still have limits of their own.
What changes in 2027?
From 10 July 2027 the EU cash ceiling of 10,000 euros applies directly under Regulation (EU) 2024/1624, with mandatory customer identification for amounts between 3,000 and 10,000 euros. Member states may keep stricter limits.
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