No Card Payment Surcharge until 30 Jun 2027, Then No Credit Card Payment Will Be Accepted @ Australian Tax Office

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No Card Payment Surcharge until 30 Jun 2027, Then No Credit Card Payment Will Be Accepted @ Australian Tax Office
Go to Deal
cucumber on 01/10/2026 - 06:56 ato.gov.au (1545 clicks)
Last edited 09/10/2026 - 13:32 by 2 other users

As of today (1 Oct), the ATO has (been forced to) dropped card payment fees to 0%, meaning you can pay your tax bill or ATO debt using a credit card without eating any transaction surcharges.

This creates a short 2-month window to harvest reward points/frequent flyer points on tax payments effectively for free before the ATO officially stops accepting credit card payments altogether on 30 November 2026.

The ATO page has been updated to show:

Card payment fee
Card payment fees do not apply to payments.

Happy to be corrected if I'm missing something.

This should also apply to other gov agencies if they're still accepting credit card payments.

Mod 9/10: Deal extended until 30 June 2027.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has delayed the Australian Taxation Office (ATO)’s planned credit card payment ban until June 30, 2027, following intense backlash from small businesses and industry groups

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  • QQPenguin on 01/10/2026 - 07:01

    This is in line with RBA removal of credit surcharge from 1 October. It applies to all businesses. Whether it will reduce cost or not is debatable.

    https://www.rba.gov.au/payments-and-infrastructure/review-of…

    • 13
    • killingtime on 01/10/2026 - 07:11

      The goal wasn't to reduce costs. The goal was to not have hidden fees when you check out.

      • 186
        • carmar on 01/10/2026 - 08:01

          They were certainly hidden till you handed over your card/tapped your device. The law has always required the display of inc-GST pricing in all retail situations - it should have been the same for these insidious credit card fees. I doubt that this move will save consumers money overall but only due to the ravenous greed of banks.

          • 59
          • Tleyx on 01/10/2026 - 19:47

            @carmar: They should of just changed the pos that you had to press ok again to accept the fee.

            It's a joke that people have less choices now as businesses and even the ATO is not accepting cards

            • -5
        • burningrage on 01/10/2026 - 08:59

          Not true. Some Tyro devices when ready accepting payment displaying one number but after you tapped, the amount changed. You can even test it yourself. Example: Spent $10.45 and then you saw $10.45 on Tyro machine, you tapped, and then it said "Approved". Not number/no amount. You checked your pending statement, it said $10.66 (2%). Not only that number was excessive (average cost is 1.5%), it did not display the final number to pay.

          Not all machines are like that, but a good percentage I'd say 1 in every 4 are like that.

          • 57
        • ozbargainhunter400 on 01/10/2026 - 09:31

          If my bill says $450, and I have only $450 in my bank account. Why am I paying $454.5 at the checkout?

          • 22
          • paddyo on 06/10/2026 - 14:44

            @ozbargainhunter400: Because you then incur an overdraft. With overdrafts comes fees, subject to T&Cs.

            • 0
            • ozbargainhunter400 on 06/10/2026 - 17:08

              @paddyo: I know I’m asking OP a simple math question which is the point of these hidden charges

              • 2
      • Mokr on 01/10/2026 - 07:36

        Lots of places only have apps to pay

        And they charge a app fee

        • 14
        • Onemoredeal on 01/10/2026 - 07:49

          Like that bull….t fee Event cinemas charges on the app

          • 13
          • ATangk on 01/10/2026 - 07:56

            @Onemoredeal: So we’ll have less card charges and they’ll be renamed to booking charges?

            • 3
            • kingmoron on 01/10/2026 - 08:44

              @ATangk: Woolworths in store self checkout convenience fee

              • 0
              • Onemoredeal on 01/10/2026 - 08:58

                @kingmoron: Have 1 human on a manned register with a 30 people queue or use the express self service lane for only 5% service charge haha

                • 3
            • Onemoredeal on 01/10/2026 - 08:57

              @ATangk: Or service fees, I was thinking about that, cafes becoming like uber with service fees of 3% or whatever on all bills

              • 0
      • Grok on 01/10/2026 - 08:30

        Yes only the government is allowed to charge you hidden fees before you check out.

        • -6
        • Tleyx on 01/10/2026 - 19:49

          No the ATO can't either

          • 0
      • A-H on 01/10/2026 - 11:19

        Albo tweeted yesterday that your coffee could get cheaper.

        Was he aware the goal wasn't to reduce costs? Why would he say that otherwise?

        • 4
        • AaronRain on 01/10/2026 - 11:48

          He is planning to farm those coffee beans himself.

          • 1
      • xNik on 05/10/2026 - 10:05

        Maybe thats the law they should have passed lmao. I love how governments pass laws that do not ultimately achieve the goal. All you have to do now is include whole order value fees and you can still charge a "hidden" fee at checkout.

        All you need to do is call your card surcharges, "service fees" and add a whole cart value fee. If you order is between $1-$40, you pay a flat $2 fee. If its between $41-100, you pay a flat $4 fee. And bam, now you have a hidden fee, and its not a surcharge because a surcharge is usually just a percentage fee, but with this new service fee, you cannot possibly tell someone the price prior to the checkout because the total order value can be different.

        • 0
    • kungfuman on 01/10/2026 - 07:32

      Lol government will never loose they are charging another way.

      • -7
    • arcticmonkey on 01/10/2026 - 07:42

      Will EatClub be forced to stop their fees?

      I've found it impossible to achieve their advertised level of savings once they charge you their fees.

      • 15
      • DavidVox on 01/10/2026 - 07:47

        They will get rid of their card fees, but they will retain a service fee as they still need to pay for the app infrastructure, staff ect.

        • 1
        • ATangk on 01/10/2026 - 07:57

          There’s absolutely no way to know how much the service fee is until after you’ve paid. That’s anything but clarity.

          • 16
          • DavidVox on 01/10/2026 - 08:09

            @ATangk: You're right it says 1-6% so you don't know how much.

            • 4
          • Eeples on 01/10/2026 - 09:01

            @ATangk: But it isn’t added on. You pay what the price says it is. (Plenty of lazy business owners are paying 2% and can’t be bothered finding better; passing it onto their customers)

            • 2
      • salmon123 on 01/10/2026 - 08:20

        Eatclub sucks for this reason. Bait and switch pricing.

        • 2
        • Craze on 01/10/2026 - 21:49

          Sucks, but still relatively generous discount all things considered (unless you go for the crappy 10-20% discounts).

          • -1
    • jimmykim on 01/10/2026 - 08:15

      Is the RBA removal of credit surcharge until 30/11 only? I thought it's permanent, no?

      • 2
      • joelmuzz on 01/10/2026 - 08:32

        The removal is. But governments own departments are responding by simply not accepting credit cards anymore.

        They will still do debit cards, for now. But if banks jack up debit cards in response to CC income falling they might stop debit cards too and require account transfers.

        • 1
  • [Deactivated] on 01/10/2026 - 07:02

    Backfired

    • 10
  • dreamerman on 01/10/2026 - 07:09

    Good one, cheers.

    • 2
  • countmein on 01/10/2026 - 07:10

    Why only to 30Nov, and not forever, if they have to follow rba rule

    • -6
    • joelmuzz on 01/10/2026 - 08:38

      They are following the rule.
      They aren't charging a surcharge, they are simply refusing to accept CC anymore since it costs them money.

      • 9
      • ndro777 on 01/10/2026 - 10:40

        So should we start bringing 10c coins to pay them….?

        • 0
      • countmein on 01/10/2026 - 11:07

        Ok thanks. Didnt know that they just simply remove the payment method.

        People seems like very easy get triggered with anything nowadays

        • -1
      • USER DC on 01/10/2026 - 20:08

        australian business should also follow seems like it, if government wont accept CC why should australian business.

        RBA taking worst decisions possible as usual

        • -1
  • edman on 01/10/2026 - 07:10

    Keep in mind that some cards don’t give points, or don’t give full points, on ATO transactions

    • 22
    • BepisCola on 01/10/2026 - 07:35

      I have never seen any card that doesn’t exclude points for government payments, at least for bonus point min spend criteria.

      • -2
      • edman on 01/10/2026 - 07:42

        Some Amex’s pay at half points. Some big bank business cards pay at full points

        • 0
        • BepisCola on 01/10/2026 - 11:37

          Was talking about bonus point min spend criteria, I don’t think normal earning rates are worth it anyway unless you are a business

          • 0
          • Save 50 Cent on 01/10/2026 - 16:32

            @BepisCola: What do you mean not worth it? You have to pay anyway so might as well earn whatever you earn. But you know what, too many people have too many points it is hard to find a reward ticket.. so maybe you are right.. not worth it.. don’t do it.

            • 0
            • BepisCola on 01/10/2026 - 18:41

              @Save 50 Cent: Generally if you’re getting a half decent earning rate you’re paying for it with annual fees. If I’m going to pay for an annual fee I’d rather just churn through bonuses and get way more for the same spend (although bonuses getting worse now too)

              • 1
              • price1d on 10/10/2026 - 08:32

                @BepisCola: Current cashback deals with ANZ & NAB credit cards do not appear to exclude these transaction types. Its not points but it is $$ back.

                • 0
              • Saturday7 on 11/10/2026 - 10:58

                @BepisCola: Qantas Amex Discovery. $0 annual fee.

                • 0
                • BepisCola on 12/10/2026 - 07:25

                  @Saturday7: 0.5 per $ is decent to you?
                  Unless you have a several hundred thousand dollar tax bill I don’t think that’s even worth the time

                  • 0
                  • Saturday7 on 12/10/2026 - 16:51

                    @BepisCola: There’s no loss in time, in that it would take the same amount of time to pay with any other method, so I don’t know what you’re on about.

                    • -1
      • dangerdanger on 01/10/2026 - 08:56

        Amex : 0.5 QFF per $1 for govt spend

        • 0
      • burningrage on 01/10/2026 - 09:00

        Ozb's most favourite credit card I think still pay full 1 to 1.

        • 0
        • HappyPants on 01/10/2026 - 11:39

          Which card is that? Thanks.

          • 0
      • bman20 on 01/10/2026 - 12:51

        there are a number that do.

        • 0
        • BepisCola on 01/10/2026 - 13:21

          Read my comment again, I am talking about bonus point spend. Nobody gets any decent amount of points from normal spend unless they are running business expenses through it.

          • 0
      • ThePointsGuru on 01/10/2026 - 20:12

        Nab Qantas Business Signature pays full points even on ATO payments.

        • 1
  • BargainTim on 01/10/2026 - 07:14

    I am fully aware that fees will now be "hidden" or "absorbed" into the full price and prices may go up. I am also aware that this will mean you can't avoid the fee with cash unless the business offers a discount for cash. Still, I for one welcome a move towards "what you see is what you pay" (wysiwyp). Thankful we are not like the USA where what you see on the shelf is before taxes and card fees.

    • 78
    • romaau on 01/10/2026 - 07:49

      While it now has to be absorbed, it has also dropped.
      Previous interchange fee cap was 0.8% now it is 0.3%

      My issue is all the companies that decided to take a cut and charge over 1.5% taking almost 1% of every transaction and selling it to the business as you will no longer need to pay for EFTPOS.

      • 7
      • OZBsince2018 on 01/10/2026 - 07:56

        Just to correct. The new interchange cap fee of 0.3% is only a recommendation from RBA. Card issuers haven't implemented that yet. What I have been hearing from Merchants is that the issuers (Master and Visa) are only reducing the interchange fee by 10-15%. So businesses will either absorb it or pass it on to customers by adding it to the listed prices.
        Whereas AMEX doesn't fall under RBA's jurisdiction, and will continue to charge businesses whatever they had been charging BUT have asked merchants not to pass on these costs to customers. So in reality, if businesses increase the prices to recover these costs, that means even those customers who were previously paying in cash will also be penalised now with higher prices.

        • 3
        • Tleyx on 01/10/2026 - 08:45

          Merchants don't pay only the interchange fee

          • 0
          • OZBsince2018 on 01/10/2026 - 10:06

            @Tleyx: Yes, Merchant simply pass on the interchange fee but what I am referring to is that AMEX has asked Merchants to disable collecting or applying surcharges on their devices EFTOPS etc. Like CBA confirmed to our business that they will disable all surcharging on their devices with effect from 1st Oct.

            • 0
      • semaj on 01/10/2026 - 08:56

        I'm pretty sure the previous rules were that companies were only allowed to add surcharges equal or less than the actual cost to them of processing it.

        You will find that it is not the companies that have been adding the almost 1% but the banks/payment facility providers - and they are still charging smaller companies over 1% to process credit card transactions.

        Square for instance that a lot of micro businesses / cafes / etc use are still charging 1.6% small business customers 1.6% I believe.

        Happy to be corrected

        • -1
        • OZBsince2018 on 01/10/2026 - 10:07

          Thats correct. Amex interchange fee are 1.65-1.85% depending on volume, whereas visa and master are lower and depends on the nature of card i.e. debit card has lower fee and credit cards higher

          • -1
      • T Man on 01/10/2026 - 22:13

        LOL, what a pile of BS. Stripe dropped their percentage from 1.7% to 1.65% yayyyyyyyyy. My CC facility dropped theirs a similar amount.

        • 0
    • dufflover on 01/10/2026 - 10:32

      This is one of the rare care cases where the change will genuinely save people money or at least the fuss cos unlike a cafe or shop the ATO can't just jack up the price.

      • 1
      • rover100 on 01/10/2026 - 17:15

        Won't save anything, prices will go up for everyone way more than this 2%.

        • -1
        • ProlapsedHeinous on 01/10/2026 - 19:25

          The price can go up any time anyway, so might as well add the price into everything. better that way.

          • 2
  • [Deactivated] on 01/10/2026 - 07:19

    Albo on his socials today saying your coffee will be cheaper today lol
    Reports this morning cafes have raised 40-50c
    You can't make this shite up haha

    https://www.news.com.au/finance/money/costs/no-one-wins-pric…

    • -4
    • SilenceMinion on 01/10/2026 - 07:22

      And yet here you are making this shit up.

      • 59
      • [Deactivated] on 01/10/2026 - 07:27

        how?

        • -3
        • Ryk on 01/10/2026 - 09:21

          reading news.com.au

          • 20
          • timbo83 on 01/10/2026 - 09:30

            @Ryk: This made me laugh! Bizarre that the main news domain in Australia actually has the least genuine news content.

            • 0
      • UltimateAI on 01/10/2026 - 07:33

        Prices are going up, the argument is the cause. Inflation, Fuel, Wages, CC surcharge would be way down the list.

        • 8
    • Disabled-User on 01/10/2026 - 07:48

      The audacity of "news.com.au" calling themselves "news"… You can't make this shite up alright

      • 26
      • payton on 01/10/2026 - 11:40

        trash.com.au was already registered!

        • 2
    • HitlersDad on 01/10/2026 - 07:51

      Why being negg'd? This is bound to happen. If someone found it cheaper post.

      • 0
      • rowanb1 on 01/10/2026 - 18:14

        My coffee was 8c cheaper today

        • -1
    • Sammyboy on 01/10/2026 - 07:58

      Prices will definitely go up by the fee the merchant has reduced the new rate to. E.g. 1.4% reduced to 0.9%. So shop will increase prices by 0.5 to 0.9%. Will be small enough to not be noticed. No one is going to just absorb the fees.

      • 2
      • T Man on 01/10/2026 - 22:14

        stripe dropped their fee from 1.7% of every transaction to 1.65%. Not exactly a big difference.

        • 0
    • Tygrys on 01/10/2026 - 08:27

      Got a credible, fact-based source?

      • 5
    • samfisher5986 on 01/10/2026 - 08:30

      Did you fail maths? Because it appears you have failed maths.

      • 2
    • ScruffTheJanitor on 01/10/2026 - 08:34

      This is literally something you can very easily make up.

      Why do people say that when dropping something that literally anyone could make up?

      • 7
    • Eeples on 01/10/2026 - 09:05

      ‘Reports’ hahaha, yeah, right.

      • 2
      • [Deactivated] on 01/10/2026 - 09:20

        yeah people are just liars. goose award

        • -1
        • linkser on 01/10/2026 - 11:07

          getting opinions from "small business owners" is the bread and butter for Newscorp and most media in Australia.

          Would love to see across all TV stations and news websites how often certain groups get quoted or asked. I bet "small business owners" will be way over-represented.

          • 1
    • burningrage on 01/10/2026 - 09:08

      They will always find reason to jack up prices. This is long standing strategy otherwise you'd miss out the opportunity for higher revenue with zero outrage.

      Take a look at fuel price. It's outrageous $2.37 ULP moving towards $4 for Diesel and every pump station lifts up their prices because if any one of them doesn't, they'd miss out the extra $$$. In other words, they are riding on the crisis with zero outrage because "everybody's doing it" and media/govt has softened you up.

      So vote with your wallet and go somewhere else if you can or better still, vote your current government MP out.

      • 0
      • AdModnar on 01/10/2026 - 10:57

        or maybe the cost is going up.
        Conspiracies exist, but are not relevant for everything

        • 0
    • ProlapsedHeinous on 01/10/2026 - 19:26

      And the coffee shops that jack their prices can go out of business when everyone abandons them. People aren't forced to get coffee at these places that want to act like dicks.

      • 0
  • euro33 on 01/10/2026 - 07:19

    wow only announced today by the ATO - I'm sure lot's of small business owners use their credit card to pay the ATO to help with cash flow…

    • -3
  • AsukaST on 01/10/2026 - 07:22

    How is this a deal when it's an universal policy applies to everything and everywhere?

    • 3
    • Alwyl8 on 01/10/2026 - 07:27

      After 30 November, card payments will no longer be accepted, leaving bank transfers and similar methods as the only options.

      • 7
      • DashCam AKA Rolts on 01/10/2026 - 09:35

        So it's a P.S.A.

        • 4
        • Save 50 Cent on 02/10/2026 - 06:24

          Whatever you want to call it, im glad it was posted. Now move on to a deal you care about. Not that hard mate

          • 0
    • joelmuzz on 01/10/2026 - 08:45

      It is more of a reminder to get in quick, get points while it is still a thing.
      You can pay the tax, pay full year council rates etc while getting points is still a thing.

      Since all the government bills/fees are going to stop accepting CC and the whole points scheme is going to be reduced.

      • 2
  • freddiep1983 on 01/10/2026 - 07:22

    Anyone else find it ironic that the ATO is doing exactly what a lot of small businesses are doing and stopping card payments altogether?
    Cash is back.
    Don’t kid yourself it’ll be cheaper. Plenty of small places won’t take your card at the till. They’ll point you at the ATM they own next to the counter, and that machine will clip you $3 a tap.

    • -1
    • Specialist Diaz on 01/10/2026 - 07:27

      Get a Macquarie debit card and all domestic ATM fees are refunded. Solved

      • 11
      • Sammyboy on 01/10/2026 - 07:51

        See how long that would last if everyone switched and did that….

        • -1
        • askbargain on 01/10/2026 - 08:23

          Enshittification!!!!

          • 2
    • AntonChigurh on 01/10/2026 - 07:27

      Yeah nah, any small business that doesn’t let people use tap payments won’t survive very long.

      This is ingrained behaviour now. A lot of people don’t even carry a wallet, let alone cash.

      • 38
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