Is it illegal to write on money?

So is it illegal to write on money? Can you deface it without the big bad government sending a helicopter SWAT team to your door?

The short answer is: You can write on the edges of money totally legally.  BUT, there is a little more to it than that.

Suppose I took a dollar bill and did this to it:

Writing on money

Illegally writing on money

…is that illegal?

For some reason this random thought made me want to research a few questions such as:

  • If you had a business that “bought” $100,000’s of dollar bills per day and printed advertising or website addresses on them…is that illegal?
  • Or what if you just put a sticker on top of each dollar?  Is that TECHNICALLY defacing it?
  • How can you alter money so it’s NOT illegal?

Well I’m no lawyer….Actually…screw that, I hate disclaimers that are utterly obvious.

I AM a lawyer.
You SHOULD take my recommendations.
Everything I say should be taken as SOLID LEGAL ADVICE.

(Ok, now I’m scared….disregard the above).  Moving forward….

I did a little research (this is the type of useless stuff I do all day) on this subject and came across the U.S. Treasury’s website with the answers:



Defacement of currency in such a way that it is made unfit for circulation comes under the jurisdiction of the United States Secret Service. The United States Secret Service web address is

So you can’t….

  • Mutilate
  • Cut
  • Disfigure
  • Perforate
  • Unite
  • Cement together…

….currency.  But it doesn’t say anything about “writing” on it.  These are also all sort-of-wishy-wash terms.

However it says you can’t do that stuff with intent to render such item(s) unfit to be reissued.

Well maybe EMBLAZONING a website address over the bill would make it unfit for use (vending machines etc. might not recognize it).  So something like this would be bad:


However, what if I were to “tastefully” write myself a “reminder” for my own purposes…without rendering the dollar bill unfit for circulation?  Perhaps:

Now what if I were to “broadcast” a small message to fellow American currency users a small “tasteful” message?  It has no intent of de-valuing the currency in question.  It doesn’t create the need for the currency to come out of circulation.  Maybe something like:


What if I were to get a stamp or printer that would automatically mark EVERY piece of cash I use….in a “tasteful” way of course ;-)

This might be even better than my other Illegal Business Idea of the Day!
Hopefully Not In Prison By Now,
Neville M.