Card surcharging is changing on 1 October 2026: what it means for your site

From 1 October 2026, businesses in Australia will no longer be able to add a surcharge to certain card payments. If your site currently applies a credit card surcharge through Beacon, now is the time to plan for turning it off.

What the RBA has decided

In March 2026 the Reserve Bank of Australia published the conclusions of its Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging. The Payments System Board landed on three key decisions:

Surcharging is being removed. Businesses will not be able to surcharge debit, prepaid or credit card payments on the eftpos, Mastercard and Visa networks. The RBA found the surcharging framework, introduced more than two decades ago, is no longer doing what it was designed to do. Surcharges have become harder for customers to avoid, the rules are complex and difficult to enforce, and most Australians want surcharging to stop.

Interchange fees are coming down. The RBA is lowering the caps on interchange fees paid by Australian businesses, and introducing a cap on foreign card payments. Small businesses are expected to benefit the most, because they tend to pay fees closest to the existing caps.

Fees are becoming more transparent. Large acquirers, along with eftpos, Mastercard and Visa, will have to publish the fees they charge. Businesses will also get standardised information on their statements, making it easier to compare providers and shop around.

Most of these changes, including the end of surcharging and the lower domestic interchange caps, take effect on 1 October 2026. The foreign card interchange cap and some transparency measures follow on 1 April 2027.

What it means for your business

If you surcharge today, you will need to decide how to handle those payment costs from October. The RBA has been clear that businesses can build payment costs into their sticker prices, the same way any other cost of doing business is handled. You can also still offer discounts if you choose, including for cash.

For customers, the change is simple: the advertised price is the price they pay at the checkout. No surprises at the terminal.

The reduction in interchange fees is intended to offset part of the cost of absorbing surcharges, so it is worth reviewing your merchant statements and current rates ahead of October.

What you need to do in Beacon

Beacon has the ability to apply credit card surcharges. If you have this set up at your site and you need it removed before 1 October 2026, please email our Support team at support@beaconsoftware.com.au and they will take care of it for you.

We strongly recommend you do not leave this to the last minute. Support will be working through a large number of sites in the lead up to October, so the earlier you get in touch, the smoother the change will be.

Source: Reserve Bank of Australia, Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging, Conclusions Paper (Media Release 2026-10, 31 March 2026).