Australian businesses have less than a month to prepare for new card payment rules, with surcharges on most card transactions set to be banned from 1 October 2026.
Under the changes, businesses will no longer be able to add surcharges to Visa, Mastercard or eftpos card payments, while American Express, JCB and UnionPay have also moved to remove surcharging from the same date.
The change is expected to have little direct impact on most businesses, with around 16 per cent of Australian businesses collecting card surcharges at the time the Federal Government announced the reforms.
However, businesses that currently surcharge will need to update their payment systems and reconsider how they manage the cost of accepting card transactions.
Ahead of the change, CommBank has announced it will reduce its Merchant Service Fee from 1.1 per cent to 0.99 per cent per transaction for in-store transactions for customers on simple rate flat pricing from 1 October.
The bank estimates the reduction could save a local café with close to $900,000 in annual turnover around $1,000 a year.
Businesses that currently surcharge will need to ensure the function is switched off across payment terminals and point-of-sale systems by the deadline, while also updating staff and removing in-store or online references to card surcharges.
The reforms also include lower caps on interchange fees, while merchant statements will provide greater detail on the costs that make up merchant service fees. Further changes, including a cap on interchange fees for foreign-issued cards, will take effect from 1 April 2027.
Source: The Reserve Bank of Australia’s Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging – Conclusions Paper
