Can You Charge a Credit Card Fee in Canada? 2026 Surcharge Rules

Visa and Mastercard both allowed Canadian merchants to surcharge credit cards from October 6, 2022, after a class-action settlement. The FCAC, the federal agency that oversees the card industry's Code of Conduct, sums up the limit: a maximum of 2.4%, and never more than your actual cost to accept the card. Both parts apply at once.

Your "cost" isn't a guess. Visa defines it as your average effective merchant discount rate for Visa credit: what you paid your processor to accept Visa credit cards, divided by your Visa credit sales. Say your statements show you pay 1.9% on average for Visa credit. Then 1.9% is your Visa ceiling, not 2.4%.

Two things follow from that:

• A lower rate means a lower ceiling. If your processing cost drops, your allowed surcharge drops with it.
• Every card brand is its own calculation. Work out the Visa number from your Visa credit costs and the Mastercard number from your Mastercard credit costs. Your statement should show volume and fees by card type; see credit card processing fees in Canada for how to read it.

Visa Canada's surcharging FAQ for businesses lays out the process. As of September 2026:

1. Tell your acquirer in writing at least 30 days ahead. Your acquirer is the bank that processes your card sales, usually reached through your processor. Visa says you'll give your business name, address, phone, email, how many locations will surcharge, the sales channel (in store, online or both), and whether you'll surcharge at the brand or product level.
2. Pick brand level or product level, not both. Brand level means every Visa credit card. Product level means only certain Visa credit products, such as Visa Infinite. At product level, the surcharge must be the same for every card of that product and can't exceed your average cost for that product.
3. Credit cards only. Visa allows surcharges on consumer and corporate credit cards. Surcharges on Visa debit and prepaid cards are prohibited, so your terminal or checkout has to tell the card types apart.
4. Disclose it before the sale. Post a clear notice where customers enter your store and at the point of sale. The point-of-sale notice must show the exact amount or percentage and say the fee is charged by you, not Visa, and applies to credit only. For online sales, the FCAC says the notice belongs on your website's checkout as well.
5. Show it on the receipt. The surcharge amount must appear on the customer's receipt.
6. Refund it. On a full refund or dispute, the surcharge goes back to the customer too. On a partial refund or partial chargeback, refund a pro-rated share.

Surcharging is allowed in person and online; you can choose one or both. Visa also says provincial or federal law overrides its rules, which is why Quebec is different (below). The FCAC adds that customers must be able to cancel the sale without penalty before they pay.

Mastercard's Canadian rules, in effect since the same date, follow the same pattern: credit cards only, a 2.4% cap, and never more than your cost. Brand-level surcharges are limited to your average effective rate for Mastercard credit; product-level surcharges to your cost for that Mastercard product.

The notice step is different. Mastercard's published rules ask for at least 30 days' notice to both Mastercard and your acquirer, and Mastercard takes its notice through an online disclosure form. Your processor should point you to the current form and confirm the steps before you start.

American Express and Discover set their own rules. Ask your processor what applies to each brand you accept.

The FCAC's merchant guidance says you can add a surcharge to a credit card sale "except in Quebec". The reason is Quebec's Consumer Protection Act, section 224(c). It bars merchants from charging a consumer "a higher price than that advertised", and says the advertised price "must include the total amount the consumer must pay", other than QST and GST.

The law doesn't use the word "surcharge". It doesn't need to: a card fee added at checkout makes the consumer pay more than the advertised price.

• Selling to consumers in Quebec: don't surcharge.
• Selling to other businesses in Quebec: the Consumer Protection Act covers sales to consumers. Check with a lawyer before you surcharge business-to-business sales.
• Selling online from another province: whether Quebec's law reaches your sale depends on the facts, so ask a lawyer. The simplest option is not to surcharge orders from Quebec consumers.

The FCAC tells merchants to ask their processor about surcharging debit, because "some networks don't allow merchants to do so". Here's what each network publishes:

In practice: don't add a fee to debit sales yourself. If you want to know whether your acquirer offers the Interac option, ask.

Renaming a card fee doesn't change the rules. Visa and the FCAC word this differently, so here's what each says:

• Visa: convenience fees "are not permitted" in Canada. Service fees are allowed only in certain merchant categories and channels. If you surcharge Visa credit cards, you can't also charge a service fee on Visa credit sales.
• FCAC: some network rules let eligible merchants charge a service or convenience fee on certain types of sales, and the names vary by network. Merchants who charge those fees for credit or debit payments aren't allowed to surcharge.

The practical rule is the same either way: pick one fee type, never stack them, and confirm with your processor that your business qualifies before charging anything other than a surcharge.

The Code of Conduct for the Payment Card Industry in Canada lets you offer discounts for different payment methods and between card networks. You could post one price and take a percentage off for cash or debit, or give a discount for one card brand over another.

A discount has no network cap and no 30-day notice. It also reads better to customers: they save money instead of paying a fee. The catch is that your posted price has to be the full price, and the discount has to be a real reduction from it. A "discount" that only appears as a fee when a credit card comes out is a surcharge.

A surcharge moves your cost to your customer. A lower rate makes the cost smaller for everyone. Before you post a sign, weigh both:

• Customers notice. A 2.4% fee on a $500 order is $12. Some customers will pay by debit, which usually costs you less anyway; some will shop elsewhere.
• It's work. Notices to your processor (and Mastercard), signs, checkout changes, receipt lines, pro-rated refunds, and turning it off for Quebec consumers.
• Small-business rates are dropping. From October 24, 2026, Visa's small-merchant rates on Classic, Gold and Platinum domestic consumer credit cards fall to 0.70% in person and 1.20% online, and the program opens to businesses with under CAD 750,000 a year in Visa volume (up from CAD 300,000). Until then the rates are 0.77% and 1.30%.

Whether those savings reach you depends on how you're priced. With interchange-plus pricing (the network's cost plus a fixed markup), a lower interchange rate shows up on your statement. A flat rate may not change. The Canadian small-business card rates guide explains who qualifies. If your provider isn't passing savings on, the Code gives you rights to leave; see switching payment processors in Canada.

If you take payments in both countries, you'll usually have a Canadian account for Canadian sales and a U.S. account for U.S. sales (see U.S. and Canada cross-border payments). Each follows its own country's network rules, and state or provincial law can add limits. START sets up Canadian merchant accounts, U.S. accounts or both: for both, a Canadian account in CAD and a U.S. account in USD, each with its own Authorize.Net gateway, managed together.

The U.S. settlement would change some surcharge rules if a court approves it, but none of it is in effect. For the U.S. state list and settlement details, see our U.S. surcharge and cash discount guide. It's written for gun stores, but the card-network and state rules are the same for any U.S. business.