What is a surcharge?
- By Book Keeping Pros
- Sources checked 16 Oct 2026
Definition
A surcharge is an extra charge added to the usual price of a good or service, such as a weekend or public holiday surcharge. In Australia, from 1 October 2026, businesses can no longer add a surcharge for paying with a Visa, Mastercard, American Express or eftpos card, but surcharges unrelated to how the customer pays can still apply.
A surcharge is part of what the customer pays for the sale, so it belongs in the sales records with the rest of the price. Showing it as its own line on the receipt or invoice, instead of folding it into the base price, lets the business see how much surcharges brought in over a month and check that customers were charged what the price display said. How a surcharge received is recorded beyond being part of the sale, such as whether it has its own income account, is a question for your accountant.
For a business that used to add a card surcharge, the change from 1 October 2026 shows up in the books as well as at the counter. Visa, Mastercard, American Express and eftpos card sales stop carrying a surcharge line, while the cost of accepting the cards still arrives from the payment provider. Tills, online checkouts and invoice templates that still add the old card surcharge need changing, and any surcharge that stays, such as a public holiday one, keeps its own line in the sales records.
In Australia
The ACCC says that from 1 October 2026 businesses can no longer charge a surcharge when a customer pays with a Visa, Mastercard, American Express or eftpos card, whether it is a credit, debit or prepaid card. It explains that the RBA's changes allowed the Visa, Mastercard and eftpos networks to bring in no-surcharge rules from that date, which they chose to do, and that American Express separately decided to stop surcharging from the same date. The card networks or payment service providers enforce those rules, not the ACCC.
The ACCC says the change covers card payment surcharges only. A business can still charge other fees or surcharges that don't depend on how the customer pays, including weekend and public holiday surcharges in hospitality, but the Australian Consumer Law's price display rules apply: prices must be shown as a single figure giving the minimum total cost, including any fee that can be worked out at the time the price is shown. The ACCC also warns that describing a card payment surcharge as some other kind of fee to get around the no-surcharge rules may be misleading conduct.
A business can raise its prices to cover the cost of accepting cards, the ACCC says, but must not mislead customers about the reasons for a price rise. Its payment methods guidance asks businesses to be clear and upfront about the payment types they accept and the minimum total price, and business.gov.au's pricing guide counts card surcharges among the pricing laws to check once prices are set.
Common mistakes
- Still adding a card surcharge to Visa, Mastercard, American Express or eftpos payments after 1 October 2026 because the till or invoice settings were never changed.
- Renaming a card surcharge as a service or admin fee, which the ACCC warns may be misleading.
- Folding surcharges into the base sales figure, so the business can't tell how much they brought in.
Related terms
Related service
Small business bookkeeping
Your books kept current, every month.
Sources
- Card surcharges
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Current at 2 October 2026, released 2 October 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.
Source: Based on ACCC data or other content Licence: CC BY 4.0.
- Payment methods
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Current at 2 October 2026, released 2 October 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.
Source: Based on ACCC data or other content Licence: CC BY 4.0.
- Choose a pricing strategy
business.gov.au, Australian Government. Current at 16 October 2026, released 1 October 2026. Checked 16 October 2026.
© Commonwealth of Australia 2020, licensed under CC BY 3.0 AU. Licence: CC BY 3.0 AU.