Credit Card Surcharge Calculator

Processing Cost, Surcharge and Net Receipt

This credit card surcharge calculator separates the client's payment from the brokerage's processing cost and remaining receipt. For prohibited payment networks, the payable result applies no surcharge.

Enter the agreed base fee or a total that already includes your proposed surcharge. With a percentage surcharge, divide an inclusive total by one plus the surcharge rate to recover the base fee. With a fixed surcharge, subtract that amount.

The processing cost equals the selected charge base multiplied by the processor percentage, plus the fixed fee. Choose the full client total when the provider charges its percentage on the surcharge too. Use the base fee only if your agreement supports that arrangement.

Net brokerage receipt equals the client payment less the processing cost. The separate receipt-less-sales-GST figure also deducts goods and services tax (GST) collected on the sale. Neither figure includes an input tax credit.

The proposal table shows the arithmetic of the surcharge you entered, even when it cannot be charged. Its hypothetical figures do not change the payable result for prohibited networks.

For another payment method, confirm permission only after establishing that its rules and provider terms allow surcharging. The recovery calculation then solves for the amount that covers processing costs after any sales GST. It does not determine a lawful maximum.

For a processor charging on the full payment, the recovery amount is (base fee × processor rate + fixed fee) ÷ (1 ÷ sales-tax multiplier − processor rate). Processing GST added by the provider increases both processing inputs before this calculation.

A Client-Paid Brokerage Fee Example

In this hypothetical example, the agreed brokerage fee is $2,750 with no GST on the sale. The processor charges 1.65% plus $0.30, including any processing GST, on the full payment.

A Visa payment has no applied surcharge. The client pays $2,750.00, the processing cost is $45.68 and the brokerage receives $2,704.32. These are the calculator's starting assumptions.

The 2% proposal is not permitted for the selected Visa payment. It demonstrates why the processor charge changes when the client total changes. With no $0.30 fixed charge, the same two processing costs become $45.38 and $46.28.

If the $2,750 is wholly taxable and GST-inclusive, its sales GST is $250.00. Absorbing the $45.68 processing cost leaves $2,454.32 after that sales GST, before any input tax credit.

Use the credit card processing fee calculator inputs to match the provider's charge basis and tax basis. Set the fixed charge to zero for percentage-only pricing.

Australian Surcharge Restrictions

Australian no-surcharge rules prohibit surcharges on Visa, Mastercard and eftpos payments. American Express also prohibits them. The ACCC's card surcharge guidance explains the rules and consumer pricing obligations.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) also lists UnionPay and PayPal among payment providers that remove surcharging. Its surcharge removal questions and answers explain commencement and exceptions. The prohibition generally covers credit, debit and prepaid cards, including foreign-issued cards.

The calculator applies no surcharge to these networks and suppresses recovery amounts. A documented scheme or legal exemption needs separate assessment. The tool does not determine exemptions.

The former excessive-surcharge rules capped recoverable costs for covered cards. Those rules have ended. A merchant statement's cost-of-acceptance percentage no longer gives a general right to add that percentage to a covered card payment.

Ask your provider for the merchant statement and fee schedule for the selected payment method. Establish whether the percentage uses the whole charged amount, which fixed charges apply and whether GST is included. For other payment methods, obtain the relevant terms and any applicable cost-of-acceptance restrictions. A processor's price alone does not establish which costs can be passed on.

Card networks and payment providers enforce their no-surcharge rules. The ACCC enforces consumer law on misleading prices. Businesses can adjust general prices to recover costs, subject to those pricing obligations.

The Australian Taxation Office's GSTR 2014/2 ruling explains that a credit card surcharge follows the underlying supply's GST treatment. Select 10% only for a wholly taxable fee. Use no GST when the fee has no GST, including an input-taxed or GST-free supply.

For mixed supplies, establish the allocation before using the result. Processing fees have their own tax treatment. The tool shows GST within processing costs separately and leaves input tax credits out of the receipt-less-sales-GST figure.