How Do Service Fees Work?
Service Fees are added by merchants in specific government and education merchant category codes (MCCs).
The program allows a variable service fee on Visa consumer debit, Visa consumer credit, and Visa commercial products in card present and card not present environments.
Ideal For:
- Government Services: tax payments, licenses & registrations; court costs & fines; alimony & child support payments
- Educational Institutions: elementary & secondary schools, colleges, professional and vocational schools.
Benefits
- Legally share processing fees with your customers.
- Improve cash flow and lower your expenses.
Rules
- Service Fees cannot be charged in addition to Surcharges or Convenience Fees.
- If the Service Fee is assessed by the merchant, it may be processed as a separate transaction.
- If the Service Fee is assessed by a third party in a card-not-present environment, it must be processed as a separate transaction.
- If a government taxing authority or its third-party charges a service fee, the entity must be authorized to process tax payment transactions.
- Service fees can be applied to specific government or education merchant category codes:
- 9311: Tax payments
- 9399: Government services, not elsewhere classified
- 9222: Fines9211: Court costs, including alimony and child support
- 8220: Colleges, universities, professional schools and junior colleges
- 8211: Elementary and secondary schools
- 8244: Business and secretarial schools
- 8249: Vocational and trade schools.
Savings
Service fees enable higher education and government agencies to accept credit payments while protecting tax and university revenue according to existing laws.
Disclaimer: The information provided in this communication does not, and is not intended to, constitute legal advice and is provided for informational purposes only. Recipients of this communication should contact their attorney to obtain advice with respect to any particular legal matter.