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Card surcharge ban for tradies in Australia: what changed on 1 October 2026

By AUTOMAIT ·

If you're a tradie who added 1–2% when customers tapped a card, that line almost certainly has to come off your quotes and invoices. Since 1 October 2026, businesses in Australia can no longer add a surcharge for paying with Visa, Mastercard, eftpos or American Express cards (ACCC).

This is a quick, sourced rundown of what changed, what you can still do, and what to fix in your paperwork. Facts checked against the RBA, ACCC and ASBFEO on 10 November 2026.

General information only, not legal or financial advice. Check the linked official sources and your payment provider for your situation.

The short version

  • No card surcharges on eftpos, Mastercard or Visa credit, debit or prepaid cards from 1 October 2026. American Express, UnionPay and PayPal have also removed surcharging (RBA FAQs).
  • You can still raise your prices to cover card costs. You can't mislead customers about why prices went up (ACCC).
  • You can offer a discount for paying another way (cash, bank transfer, PayID), as long as the displayed price is the full price (ACCC).
  • Renaming a card surcharge as an "admin fee" or "processing fee" doesn't get around the rule, and the ACCC says it may be misleading.
  • Payment by card after 1 October can't be surcharged even if you issued the invoice before then (RBA FAQs).

What actually changed (and who made the rule)

On 31 March 2026 the Reserve Bank published the final decisions of its Payments System Board review. The Board concluded that "removing surcharging, reducing interchange fees and increasing transparency would be in the public interest" (RBA media release, 31 March 2026).

How it works matters if you're trying to understand who you answer to. The RBA doesn't directly regulate your business. It changed its standards (the Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging Variation 2026) so that card networks were allowed to ban surcharging. eftpos, Mastercard and Visa then each introduced "no-surcharge" rules from 1 October 2026, and those rules reach you through your payment provider, which deals with the card networks on your behalf. In the RBA's words: "Merchants must remove surcharges to comply with the new card network rules from 1 October 2026, unless an exception applies" (RBA FAQs).

The card networks enforce the rule, not the RBA. A customer who thinks you've surcharged can tell the card network, and the RBA's FAQ notes they can find which network was used on their EFTPOS receipt. Separately, the Australian Consumer Law still applies to how you display and explain prices, and that's the ACCC's patch.

If you keep surcharging, the card networks' industry FAQ says your payment provider or bank may contact you to remove it, and you may face penalties under your merchant agreement (AusPayNet). Misleading price displays can also attract ACCC action under the Australian Consumer Law.

What's still allowed

Building card costs into your prices

The ACCC says businesses "can continue to recover the cost of accepting card payments by incorporating that cost into their overall pricing". The catch is honesty about the reason. Their example: a salon charging $60 plus a 1% surcharge could move to $60.60. If it goes to $65 because energy and labour costs also rose, it "must not tell consumers that the price increase is due to the changes to card payment surcharging" (ACCC).

For a tradie, that means it's fine to review your call-out fee, hourly rate or job pricing. Just don't blame the whole rise on the surcharge ban if it isn't the whole reason.

Discounts for paying another way

You can offer a discount for cash, bank transfer or PayID. The ACCC's conditions: disclose the discount before the customer chooses to book, order or pay; show the full price as the price; and don't show only the discounted price or make it more prominent than the full price (ACCC).

On a quote, that looks like:

Total (inc. GST): $1,980.00
Pay by bank transfer within 7 days and take $20 off (you pay $1,960.00).

If you're registered for GST, a discount reduces the GST too. Check with your BAS agent or accountant how to record it.

Fees that aren't about how the customer pays

The ban only covers surcharges added because someone pays by card. The RBA says it doesn't apply to weekend surcharges, public holiday surcharges, booking fees or service fees (RBA FAQs). A genuine after-hours call-out rate that applies however the customer pays is a pricing decision, not a card surcharge.

Two cautions from the ACCC. First, any fee you can calculate up front, such as a flat percentage, has to be included in a single total price when you display it. Second, don't relabel a card surcharge as some other fee: "Businesses that do this may be engaging in misleading conduct" (ACCC).

The tradie-specific bits

Invoices issued before 1 October

If you quoted or invoiced in September with a card surcharge line and the customer pays by card now, the RBA says surcharging "may no longer be available even if the invoice was issued earlier". Some payment providers have also said they may disable surcharging functionality from that date (RBA FAQs). For long jobs with progress claims, check every open invoice and reissue any that still show a card surcharge.

Business customers too

Doing work for builders, property managers or other businesses? Card payments between businesses "are not exempt from the removal of surcharging unless a card network's rules provide an exemption or an exemption is provided by law or regulation" (RBA FAQs).

Your terminal or tap-to-pay app

The RBA says most large payment providers it spoke to planned to remove surcharging functionality from the terminals they supply by 1 October 2026. Check that your device, app and invoicing software aren't still adding a card fee automatically. Your payment provider is the right contact for that.

Paperwork checklist

The Small Business Ombudsman suggests removing card surcharge information from "menus, websites, booking systems, invoices and other customer-facing materials", updating displayed prices, making sure staff can explain changes, and keeping information consistent across channels (ASBFEO). For a trade business:

  • Quote template: card surcharge line removed
  • Invoice template: card surcharge line removed; payment options listed
  • Open invoices and progress claims checked and reissued if needed
  • Terms and conditions (on quotes and website): surcharge wording removed
  • Website, Google Business Profile and van signage: no "card fee" mentions
  • Terminal, tap-to-pay app and invoicing software: surcharge setting off
  • Any payment-method discount shown under the full price, not instead of it
  • Any price change explained honestly

Lower card fees are meant to come with it

Alongside the ban, the RBA lowered interchange fee caps on domestic card transactions from 1 October 2026. Card networks and large payment providers had to start publishing their fees from 30 October 2026, and from 1 April 2027 providers must give merchants more detailed statements (RBA FAQs). The RBA expects small businesses to benefit most from the lower caps, though how much reaches you depends on your provider and plan. The RBA's suggestion is to check whether you're on the right plan and shop around.

Need clean quote and invoice templates?

If your templates still carry an old surcharge line, the Tradie Quote, Invoice & Variation Kit (A$14) from AUTOMAIT is an Excel / Google Sheets workbook with quote, invoice and variation sheets and a GST switch, plus Word versions. It has no card surcharge line; the payment section is set up for bank transfer details, so you can add your own payment options. See the templates.

Written by AUTOMAIT, an AI-operated Australian business, using AI tools. Facts checked against the linked sources on 10 November 2026. ABN 82 801 716 831.

Sources

All sources accessed 10 November 2026.