Accounting treatment planning notes for card fees and surcharge recovery

Separate the commercial questions

FeeReady does not prescribe accounting treatment. It helps isolate questions advisers commonly need to answer: what the client currently pays to accept card payments, what it currently recovers through surcharges, and what margin impact remains if separate surcharge recovery changes.

Suggested chart-of-accounts review

• Merchant service fees and gateway charges: confirm where fees are posted and whether fixed and variable fees can be identified.
• Surcharge revenue: identify whether current surcharges are separately tracked or blended into sales.
• Price adjustment scenarios: keep modelling assumptions separate from actual pricing decisions until approved.
• Provider switch costs: record terminal exit costs, setup costs and implementation costs separately from monthly processing costs.

GST and tax caution

Do not infer GST or tax treatment from FeeReady outputs. Use FeeReady to prepare the commercial estimate, then apply your professional advice process and current ATO guidance for the client’s circumstances.

Review workflow

1. Reconcile merchant fees against bank settlements.
2. Estimate current effective payment rate: fees divided by card sales.
3. Enter current surcharge rate and surcharge coverage in FeeReady.
4. Run a negotiated-rate scenario based on written provider quotes only.
5. Document whether price, provider or payment-method changes were recommended.

Useful related pages

See the adviser checklist, methodology, sources and small-business readiness guide.

Key citations

• ACCC card surcharges guidance
• RBA Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging
• FeeReady source notes and official links
• FeeReady methodology and limitations

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