Card Surcharge Ban Takes Effect From 1 October 2026
From 1 October 2026, businesses will no longer be able to charge customers extra for paying by card. The ban covers eftpos, Mastercard, Visa and American Express, and there is no small business exemption — it applies whether you're a sole trader with one terminal or a national chain. If your pricing, invoices or online checkout still show a card surcharge this needs to be turned off before October 1st.
1 October
Ban Takes Effect
4 Card Schemes
eftpos, Mastercard, Visa, Amex
0 Exemptions
No smal business carve-out
IN BRIEF: From 1 October 2026, merchants cannot add a surcharge specifically for paying by eftpos, Mastercard, Visa or American Express (credit). There is no exemption for small or not-for-profit businesses. You can still charge genuine service, booking or public holiday fees, but not a fee framed as a card surcharge. Check your payment provider, invoices and online checkout before the deadline.
What exactly is being banned?
A card surcharge is an extra fee a merchant adds specifically because a customer chose to pay by card, rather than a genuine cost of providing an optional service. From 1 October 2026, that practice ends for the four major schemes operating in Australia:
- eftpos (debit and prepaid)
- Mastercard (credit, debit and prepaid)
- Visa (credit, debit and prepaid)
- American Express (credit)
This is being enforced through the card networks' own rules rather than direct government regulation of merchants, the Reserve Bank has removed the restriction that previously stopped the schemes from banning surcharges outright, and the schemes have now moved to do so. The taxi industry is a separate case, remaining under existing state and territory regulation.
KEY CHANGE: There is no small business or transaction-value exemption. The ban applies "unless a card network's rules provide an exemption or an exemption is provided by law or regulation" — in practice, every business accepting these cards needs to act, regardless of size.
Still allowed
- Genuine service or booking fees
- Weekend or public holiday surcharges, clearly disclosed
- Payment processor costs built into your standard pricing
- Discounts for using a lower-cost payment method
No longer allowed
- A fee added specifically for paying by card
- Surcharges on eftpos, Mastercard, Visa or Amex credit
- Card fees on invoices issued before 1 October where payment lands on or after that date
- Assuming your existing terminal settings will simply stop charging on their own
What should businesses do now?
Check every place a surcharge could appear
Surcharges often sit in more than one place — the EFTPOS terminal, the online checkout, recurring invoices, subscription billing and any point-of-sale software. Each of these needs to be checked separately; updating the terminal does not automatically update your website.
Contact your payment provider this week
Ask your bank or payment processor directly whether your terminals and checkout have already been updated, or whether you need to make a change yourself. Providers are handling this at different speeds, and "the bank will sort it out" is not a safe assumption two days out from the deadline.
Re-check invoices issued before 1 October
If you've issued an invoice with a card surcharge line and the customer will pay on or after 1 October, that surcharge needs to come off before payment is processed. Review any invoices currently outstanding.
Separate genuine fees from disguised surcharges
A booking fee or weekend surcharge is fine if it reflects a real cost and applies regardless of payment method. If a fee only appears when a customer pays by card, it needs to be reworded, restructured or removed — simply renaming a surcharge is not compliant.
This article is intended as general information only and does not constitute tax advice. We recommend speaking with us directly to understand how these changes apply to your specific circumstances.
Not sure if your pricing is still compliant?
Our team can review your invoicing, checkout and terminal setup against the new card surcharge rules and help you fix anything that needs to change before 1 October.