Australia's card payment system is being rewritten twice in the space of two months, and small businesses are catching both ends of it.
The first change landed on 1 October. Under reforms from the Reserve Bank of Australia, businesses can no longer add a surcharge when a customer pays by eftpos, Mastercard, Visa or American Express. The RBA removed its long-standing ban on card networks introducing their own "no surcharge" rules, and all four networks have taken up the option.
The second change is still a few weeks away but already causing concern. The ATO has confirmed it will stop accepting credit card payments for tax bills, including BAS, PAYG and income tax, after 30 November 2026. Both changes stem from the same underlying review into the cost of accepting card payments in Australia.
What's banned at the checkout
The surcharge ban only applies to fees charged specifically because someone paid by card. According to the RBA, the changes only apply to surcharges added because a customer pays by card, and do not apply to weekend surcharges, public holiday surcharges, or booking and service fees. So a Sunday loading or a callout fee is unaffected, it's the "card payment, extra cost" line item that's gone.
Critically, the cost of accepting cards hasn't disappeared, it's just no longer allowed to be itemised separately. The RBA's own guidance says businesses will still incur costs when accepting card payments after surcharging is removed, and those costs can be reflected in a business's overall pricing instead. In practice, that means folding what used to be a visible surcharge into the sticker price, or wearing the cost in the margin.
What's banned at tax time
The second change is narrower but hits differently. The ATO has decided that, as a government agency, it would not be appropriate for the cost of credit card merchant fees to be transferred to the community, and is removing the payment method entirely rather than absorbing or passing on the fee.
Most businesses won't notice. The ATO says only around 2.3 per cent of tax payments were made by credit card in 2024-25, and more than 60 per cent of those came from privately owned and wealthy groups, along with public and multinational businesses, not typical small operators.
But for the businesses that do use a credit card to pay tax, often as a deliberate way to buy a few weeks of breathing room before the card statement is due, the change closes off a genuine cash flow lever. It matters even more for businesses with an ATO payment plan linked to a credit card via direct debit, since that arrangement will simply stop working after the cutoff unless it's updated beforehand.
Why COSBOA is speaking up
The Council of Small Business Organisations Australia has acknowledged the ATO change affects a relatively small number of businesses, but says that doesn't make it a non-issue for the ones it does hit, especially arriving so soon after the surcharge ban.
"This change comes at a pressured time for small businesses, with many already managing high costs, tight margins and competing financial obligations," COSBOA CEO Skye Cappuccio said.
Her concern centres on businesses already managing an ATO payment plan through a credit card.
"We understand the ATO's decision, but it must take a practical and flexible approach as the change is implemented, particularly for small businesses using credit cards to meet payment plan obligations," Cappuccio said.
She's asking for the transition itself to be handled with some give.
"Businesses acting in good faith should be given reasonable flexibility to transition to another payment method without unnecessary disruption or penalties," she said.
The ATO does appear to be acting on this specific group. It's said it is writing directly to taxpayers who currently have a payment plan linked to a credit card, explaining the change and the steps needed to move to another method before their next instalment falls due after 30 November.
Cappuccio also used the moment to push for a longer-term fix rather than just closing the door on cards.
"To support administrative ease for small business, the ATO should move as quickly as possible to implement New Payments Platform payment options," she said.
What to actually check, for both changes
For the surcharge ban, the practical task is auditing your point of sale, invoicing software or online checkout to confirm surcharging is switched off, several providers are disabling it automatically regardless, and deciding whether that lost revenue needs folding into prices or can be absorbed.
For the ATO change, check two things specifically. If you have a payment plan with a credit card attached to the direct debit, that needs to move to a bank account or BPAY before your next instalment after 30 November. And if you've been using a credit card to pay tax purely to delay the cash outflow, that window closes at the end of November, worth mapping out what replaces it now rather than in early December.
Neither change is dramatic on its own. Together, in the space of sixty days, they're a reminder that the cost of accepting and paying by card in Australia is being restructured from both directions at once, and small business is the group left working out where the cost actually lands.