Legal tender money is a type of payment that is protected by law. A legal tender, also known as the forced tender, is very secured and it is impossible to deny the legal tender while subsiding a debt which is assigned in the same medium of exchange. The term legal tender does not represent the money itself, rather it is a kind of status which can be bestowed on certain types of money.
Legal tender money may seem to be a confusing term. Some definite types of currency are usually defined as legal tender. According to the Coinage Act of 1965, the coin and currencies of United States of America are US legal tenders. Any kind of debt or any other taxes can be paid through the legal tender and all the other form of currencies like metal coins are not accepted in the US as legal tender.
In Switzerland, only the Swiss Franc has the status of legal tender. Again, the bank notes and the payments up to 100 Swiss coins are also the legal tenders in Switzerland. All the notes, which are issued by the Swiss Bank in 1976 and which are now withdrawn by the bank have also lost the status of legal tender in Switzerland. At the same time there are some specific coins which are not in use in Switzerland but still retain the legal tender status.
In the countries of the Eurozone, Euro currencies are accepted as the legal tender since 1st January 2002. The 1 and 2 cent coins are also legal tenders but some countries, because of some technical problems, do not accept these as legal tender.
In India, the status of legal tender is given only to the Indian rupee. On the other hand,the same Indian rupee is provided with the status of legal tender in the neighboring countries of Nepal and Bhutan. At the same time the Indian rupee is not accepted in the government organizations of these countries. On the other hand, the currency of Nepal and Bhutan are not accepted as the legal tender in India.