Manage your manual surcharge settings
About the end of card surcharging and why it matters
A card surcharge is an extra fee added to a customer transaction specifically for processing a card payment. This is distinct from service charges, sales taxes, or automatic gratuities that are not intended to cover card payment costs. If you set up a card surcharge using a service charge, a sales tax or automatic tipping — rather than using Square's card surcharge setting — you'll need to manually remove it before trading on 1 October. Square can't remove this for you.
The RBA has published answers to common questions about the removal of card surcharging on its website.
Read more about The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) is changing card surcharging. Here’s what it means for you.
Before you begin
Follow this guide to delete these manual workarounds from your Square Dashboard or Square Point of Sale app.
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Automatic switch-off: If you currently surcharge, Square will automatically disable the card surcharge setting on your account on 1 October. You don’t need to take any action to turn it off.
If you don’t currently surcharge, there is no impact to the way you process payments.
Review your pricing: Since you will no longer be able to pass processing fees on to customers as a separate charge, you may want to review and adjust your menu or item prices to incorporate these costs into your business revenue.
Note: Once you delete a sales tax, this cannot be undone.
Learn how to Prepare your business for end of card surcharging.
Delete from Square Dashboard
To delete any existing card surcharge related sales taxes from your Square Dashboard:
- Sign in to Square Dashboard and go to Account & Settings > Payments > Sales taxes.
- Select the tax you wish to remove.
- Click Actions > Delete tax > Confirm.
If you have multiple card surcharge related sales taxes, repeat the steps above.
To delete any existing card surcharge related service charges from your Square Dashboard:
- Sign in to Square Dashboard and go to Account & Settings > Payments > Service charges.
- Click (•••) next to the service charge you wish to remove.
- Click Edit > Delete service charge.
- Click Confirm to confirm.
If you were previously using auto-gratuity as a workaround to pass on card surcharges to your customers, you’ll need to toggle it off before trading on 1 October.
- Sign in to Square Dashboard and go to Settings > Restaurant settings > Service settings > Automatic gratuity.
- Untoggle Allow automatic gratuity to delete.
- Select Save.
Delete from Point of Sale
To delete any existing card surcharge related sales taxes from the point of sale app:
- From the navigation bar at the bottom of your screen, tap More > Settings > Checkout > Sales taxes.
- Select the relevant sales tax to delete.
- Scroll down and select Delete tax from this location.
- Tap Confirm delete tax.
Note: Once you delete a sales tax, this cannot be undone.
You cannot create or delete Service Charges from the point of sale app. Follow the steps from the ‘Delete from Dashboard’ section above to action via your Square Dashboard.
If you were previously using auto-gratuity as a workaround to pass on card surcharges to your customers, you’ll need to toggle it off before trading on 1 October.
To delete automatic gratuity from your point of sale:
- Go to Restaurant settings > Service settings > Automatic Gratuity.
- Untoggle Allow Automatic Gratuity to delete.
Once you’ve deleted the relevant sales taxes, service charges, or auto-gratuity (on Square for Restaurants), your manual surcharge will no longer apply to card transactions from 1 October.
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Disclaimer: This guidance is general in nature and does not constitute legal, tax, or any other type of professional advice. If you are unsure about your legal obligations or where to find the relevant information, consider consulting with a professional.