From 1 October 2026, Australian businesses generally can no longer add a surcharge to card payments. This follows the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) review of merchant card payment costs and surcharging.
What changed
The RBA removed its prohibition on card networks' "no-surcharge" rules from 1 October 2026. eftpos, Mastercard and Visa introduced no-surcharge rules from that date, covering credit, debit and prepaid cards, including internationally issued cards.
The RBA's FAQ lists eftpos, Mastercard, Visa, American Express, PayPal and UnionPay as no longer permitting surcharges from 1 October 2026.
The change applies only to card payment surcharges. You still pay card processing fees, and the RBA expects you to build those costs into your prices.
Sources: RBA FAQs – Removal of Card Payment Surcharges From 1 October 2026, RBA media release 2026-10, business.gov.au. Nomni cannot give legal advice. If you are unsure whether a surcharge applies to you, check these sources or ask your adviser.
1. Turn off credit card surcharges on the POS
Go to Settings > Credit Card Surcharge.
Tap each surcharge and tap Delete.
If you used card-type surcharges, go to the backend Sales > Surcharge and remove the All Cards and card-type surcharges there too.
If you turned on setting A18 Require selection of card type only for surcharges, it can be turned off once By Card Types is no longer selected in the backend.
On the POS, go to Settings > Sync > Sync Payment Info so the change reaches every device.
Note: Nomni POS (iPad) automatically stops Visa, Mastercard, EFTPOS and All Cards surcharges on Australian-dollar accounts. It does not remove surcharges for other card types, such as American Express, Diners, JCB or UnionPay. If you have these in Settings > Credit Card Surcharge, delete them yourself if you can no longer charge them.
2. Online ordering
By default, an All Cards surcharge in the backend also applies to online ordering. Removing it in Sales > Surcharge removes it from online orders. Place a test online order to check that no card surcharge appears.
3. Terminals that surcharge by themselves
Some integrated terminals (for example Tyro) can add a surcharge at the terminal. Nomni POS settings do not control this. Ask your terminal provider to turn terminal surcharging off.
4. General, weekend and public holiday surcharges
General surcharges (Dropdown Menu > Surcharge Management) are separate from card surcharges, and the RBA change is about card surcharges. Check that none of your general surcharges is really a card fee, for example one named "card fee".
5. Receipts still show a surcharge
Check that you completed Sync Payment Info on the Master POS, then on each other device.
Check for a leftover general surcharge with a card-related name.
Receipts printed before the change will still show the old surcharge.
Related: Surcharge Settings on the Nomni POS · How do I set a different bank surcharge for online orders? · Tyro – Exclude Surcharges