From 1 October 2026, the way Australian businesses handle card surcharges is changing.

Following its review of merchant card payment costs and surcharging, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has introduced reforms that will see surcharging removed from eftpos, Mastercard and Visa card payments.

The three major designated card networks have now confirmed they will introduce no-surcharge rules from 1 October 2026, covering debit, prepaid and credit cards as applicable. American Express has also confirmed it will remove surcharging from the same date.

So, if your business currently adds a percentage to the bill when someone pays by card, it’s time to start planning for the change.

And importantly, simply calling the surcharge something else isn’t the answer.

 

Why are card surcharges changing?

Card surcharging was originally intended to give consumers a clearer signal about the cost of different payment methods and encourage them to choose lower-cost options.

But the payments landscape has changed considerably.

According to the RBA, surcharging is no longer achieving its intended purpose. Consumers and businesses find the rules complex and confusing, surcharges are not always well disclosed, and it has become increasingly difficult for consumers to avoid them.

The RBA estimates around 16% of Australian merchants surcharged designated card payments in 2024/25, generating approximately $1.8 billion in surcharges. Around $1.6 billion of those surcharges were paid by consumers.

The aim of the new approach is much simpler: the price customers see should more closely reflect the price they actually pay.

 

What changes on 1 October 2026?

From 1 October 2026, no-surcharge rules will apply to:

• eftpos debit and prepaid cards
• Mastercard debit, prepaid and credit cards
• Visa debit, prepaid and credit cards
• American Express credit cards.

For businesses, this means you will no longer be able to add a card surcharge to these payments where the applicable network rules prohibit it.

The changes apply to card payments between businesses as well as payments made by consumers, unless an exemption is provided under a card network’s rules or by law or regulation.

Businesses should also be aware of transactions that cross the 1 October deadline. If you issue an invoice before 1 October but the customer pays by card on or after that date, the surcharge may no longer be available. Some payment providers have indicated that they may simply disable their surcharging functionality from 1 October.

 

What about workarounds?

This is probably going to be one of the first questions some businesses ask:

Can we just call the surcharge something else?

The answer is no.

A card surcharge is an additional fee charged because a customer chooses to pay using a particular card. Changing the name of that charge doesn’t change its purpose.

So businesses shouldn’t plan on simply replacing a card surcharge with a “card processing fee”, “payment handling fee” or another differently named charge that is still imposed because the customer paid by card.

The RBA’s reforms are specifically designed to remove these card payment surcharges and move towards clearer, all-inclusive pricing.

There is, however, an important distinction.

The changes do not prohibit genuine fees that aren’t linked to the customer’s choice to pay by card. For example, the RBA says the changes do not apply to weekend surcharges, public holiday surcharges, booking fees or service fees that are not card payment surcharges.

Businesses can also continue to offer discounts for particular payment methods if they want to encourage customers to use a preferred or lower-cost way to pay.

So rather than looking for a creative way to recreate the surcharge under another name, businesses should start considering how they will manage their card processing costs once the changes take effect.

 

What about the cost to businesses?

Of course, card processing isn’t suddenly becoming free.

Businesses will still incur costs when accepting card payments. The difference is that those costs can be reflected in the business’s overall pricing rather than added as a separate card surcharge.

The good news is that the RBA isn’t removing surcharging without also addressing some of the underlying costs.

From 1 October, the RBA is also reducing interchange fee caps for domestically issued cards. New interchange caps for foreign-issued cards will then take effect from 1 April 2027.

These changes are intended to reduce the card payment costs businesses face, with the RBA expecting small businesses to benefit particularly because they tend to pay fees closer to the existing caps.

 

More transparency around what you’re actually paying

Another useful part of the reforms is greater transparency around merchant fees.

eftpos, Mastercard, Visa and large payment acquirers will be required to publish more information about the fees they charge.

The idea is to make it easier for businesses to understand what they’re paying, compare providers and potentially negotiate or shop around for a better deal.

And that’s something businesses should be taking advantage of.

Don’t simply assume the rate you’re currently paying is the best available. Review your payment provider, understand your fee structure and compare your options.

 

What should businesses do before October?

If your business currently applies a card surcharge, don’t wait until the end of September to work out what you’re going to do.

Now is a good time to review:

• what you’re currently paying in merchant and processing fees
• how much you’re currently recovering through card surcharges
• whether your existing payment provider is competitive
• whether your POS, invoicing or payment systems need to be updated
• whether your overall pricing needs to change to incorporate payment costs
• whether offering a discount for a preferred payment method makes sense.

You may decide to absorb the remaining processing costs as another overhead of running your business.

Alternatively, you may need to build those costs into your overall pricing.

Either way, understanding the numbers now gives you time to make the right decision rather than scrambling when the rules change.

 

And one small win for the bookkeepers…

Anyone who has spent time reconciling transactions where the receipt says one amount and the bank feed says another will probably welcome the change.

No more pesky card surcharges should hopefully mean fewer differences between invoices, receipts and bank transactions – and a little less mucking around when it comes time to reconcile the books.

We’ll take that as a win.

 

The key dates

1 October 2026
No-surcharge rules commence for eftpos, Mastercard and Visa, with American Express also removing surcharging from this date. Changes to interchange regulation for domestically issued card transactions also take effect.

1 April 2027
New interchange fee caps for foreign-issued card transactions accepted in Australia take effect, along with additional payment-cost transparency measures.

 

Time to get ready

If your business currently applies card surcharges, the next couple of months are a good opportunity to get ahead of the changes.

And don’t plan on simply replacing the surcharge with the same fee under a different name.

Instead, review what you’re paying, talk to your payment provider, compare your options and consider whether your overall pricing needs to change.

And remember – we’re only a phone call away if you’d like some tailored thoughts on what these changes could mean for your business.

 

Source: Reserve Bank of Australia, Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging – Conclusions Paper and FAQs, 2026.

Read the RBA’s FAQs on the removal of card surcharges