Cash Gets a Comeback as ACCC Confirms Discounts Can Stay
Synopsis
ACCC cash discounts will remain legal after Australia ends card surcharges on October 1, as new payment rules reshape how businesses recover card acceptance costs.
Australian businesses will continue to be able to take ACCC cash discounts as of October 1st, once new card payment rules come into effect to prevent merchants from surcharging major card payments.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission recently ruled that businesses are allowed to provide a discount to customers who pay by cash and/or PayID. The discount has to be stated before customers book, order, or pay.
The advice builds on Australia's coming significant change in the pricing model for card transactions. Under the existing rules, businesses are permitted to charge surcharges on cards until 30 September unless they exceed the cost of accepting the card type charged.
Cash Discounts Remain Permitted Under New Rules
Visa, Mastercard, Eftpos and American Express will implement new rules on October 1, which will prevent merchants from adding surcharges to their card transactions.
The change is implemented due to the Reserve Bank of Australia's Review of Merchant Card Payment Costs and Surcharging: Conclusions Paper, which was published in March 2026 and updated in June.
The RBA has also said that discounts can be given to businesses to encourage non-cash payments. However, you can't reduce the full price and thereafter advertise as the full price, but have to have the discounted cash price the standard price.
The ACCC cash discounts guidance also explicitly clarifies that it doesn't include other fees including surcharges for weekends and other public holidays in hospitality, or separate booking fees.
$1.8 Billion in Card Surcharges
The proportion of the change is proportional to the increasing adoption of card payments in Australia. RBA data reveals that approximately 16% of merchants charged surcharges on specific payments made on these kinds of cards in the financial year 2024-25.
The surcharges amounted to approximately $1.8 billion, of which consumers are estimated to have paid approximately $1.6 billion and businesses approximately $200 million.
Meanwhile, cash is no longer so prevalent. The RBA believes that cash transactions accounted for approximately 15% of all physical interactions in 2025, compared to 69% in 2007.
The RBA also discovered that doubling occurred in the prevalence of card surcharging since 2022. Some of its reforms are set to go into effect October 1, such as a limit on domestic consumer credit card interchange fees of 0.30%.
ACCc cash discounts offer a viable alternative to a separate charge for card acceptance for businesses as long as it is made clear to customers and it meets the requirements of the Australian Consumer Law.
Source: Banking Day
Pooja Malik is a business journalist with over six years of experience covering startups, entrepreneurship, and emerging trends. She has previously worked with leading media platforms such as YourStory Media and BW BusinessWorld, where she reported on business, policy, and market developments. Currently, she serves as Editor at The Inspirepreneur Magazine, where she writes and edits stories across business, lifestyle, and travel, with a focus on clarity, accuracy, and reader relevance.
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