GST treatment of fees that suppliers charge customers for using a credit or debit card

This item considers the GST treatment of credit or debit card fees charged by suppliers to customers. These are fees charged by suppliers to recover the cost of providing a card processing facility. It considers the GST treatment where: the supplier provides the payment facility directly to the customer; the supplier has arranged for an agent to provide the payment facility to the customer on the supplier’s behalf; and the supplier contracts with a third party to provide a payment facility to the customer. The item concludes that in all these cases, the fee will form part of the consideration for the goods and services being supplied and will have the same GST treatment as those goods or services.