On a $4,000 job paid by credit card, the card processor keeps about $116. Most contractors quietly eat that on every card payment, and on a year of jobs it adds up to a real number. Since October 2022, Canadian businesses have been allowed to pass that cost on as a credit card surcharge. It's legal, but it comes with rules, and getting them wrong is how a surcharge turns into a complaint or a fine.
Rule 1: credit cards only
A surcharge can only go on credit cards. Debit cards — Interac, Visa Debit, Debit Mastercard — and prepaid cards can never be surcharged. A client paying with debit pays the invoice amount, full stop. That's why a surcharge has to be worked out after the client enters their card, not printed as a flat fee on the invoice.
Rule 2: 2.4% at most
The surcharge can't be more than 2.4% of the transaction, and it can't be more than what card acceptance actually costs you. If your processor charges 2.9% + 30¢ (Stripe's standard rate), 2.4% is the limit that applies — which means a surcharge recovers most of the fee, not all of it. It also has to be the same across card brands: you can't charge Amex clients more than Visa clients.
Rule 3: tell your processor 30 days before you start
Visa requires 30 days' written notice to your acquirer — the company that processes your cards — before you start surcharging, and Mastercard registration goes through the same place. If you take payments through Stripe, that's Stripe. Mark the date you sent the notice; you can't start before 30 days have passed.
Rule 4: the client sees it before they pay
The surcharge has to be disclosed before the client commits: where they first see the bill, and again at the moment of payment, with the exact amount or percentage and a statement that it's charged by you — not by Visa or Mastercard — and only on credit cards. The client has to be able to back out or pay another way once they've seen it. And it goes on the receipt as its own line, labelled a credit card surcharge.
Two things people miss
- Quebec is different: the province's Consumer Protection Act doesn't allow credit card surcharges, so a Quebec business can't surcharge, and you shouldn't surcharge clients with a Quebec address.
- Refunds give it back: a full refund returns the whole surcharge, and a partial refund returns its share. The same goes for a chargeback.
What about GST/HST?
The CRA treats a credit card surcharge charged by the business that made the sale as an exempt financial service, so no GST or HST is added to the surcharge itself (see CRA's GI-200). The invoice is taxed as usual; the surcharge sits on top. Your accountant will want it booked as its own income line.
Should you do it?
It depends on your clients. On big residential jobs, a clear, upfront surcharge rarely raises an eyebrow — and a client who'd rather not pay it can use debit or e-transfer, which often suits you better anyway. On small, repeat commercial work where the relationship matters more than the fee, many businesses leave it off. Either way, decide once, apply it consistently, and make it visible.
How SupplyAxis handles it
In SupplyAxis a credit card surcharge is off until you turn it on in Settings → Card payments. You pick a rate up to 2.4% and enter the date you gave Stripe notice; the surcharge starts 30 days later. From then on, the invoice email and client hub tell clients before they pay, the card is checked when the client enters it — credit gets the surcharge, debit and prepaid don't — the client sees the exact total and can switch cards or cancel, the receipt shows the surcharge on its own line, refunds return it automatically, and clients with a Quebec address are never charged it.
This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. Card network rules change; check with your processor before you start.