Updated for 2026 · Reflects current Visa & Mastercard caps

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The Canadian Surcharge Calculator.

Drop in your monthly credit card volume, what you currently pay in processing fees, and your business type. We'll show you exactly how much a compliant 2.4% surcharge program would save you annually — no email, no signup, no nonsense.

Your savings

Current monthly fees $1,150
Annual fees (what you pay now) $13,800
Estimated monthly savings $690 – $920
Estimated annual savings
$8,280 – $11,040
Most merchants recover 60–80% of processing fees in the first year. The remainder reflects the typical shift of some customers to debit, cash, or EFT once a surcharge is visible.
How this works

A compliant surcharge program shifts most of your processing fees to your customers. Most merchants recover 60–80% of what they're paying today — the rest reflects a typical shift of some customers to debit, cash, or EFT once a surcharge is visible. Your savings range is calculated as 60% to 80% of the monthly fees you entered above, multiplied by 12.

What the inputs mean

Monthly credit card volume

Total credit card transaction volume per month — not total sales. If you do $80,000/month and 70% comes through credit cards, you'd enter $56,000.

Monthly processing fees you currently pay

The total dollar amount your processor takes out of your account every month for credit card processing. Find this on your monthly merchant statement — most processors show it on the first or second page as "total fees" or "discount fees." Don't worry about effective rates or interchange tables; just the bottom-line dollar figure you actually pay. This is the number that drives the savings estimate.

Surcharge percentage

The percentage you'll charge customers when they pay by credit card. The legal maximum is 2.4% or your effective rate, whichever is lower. We pre-fill 2.4% as the most common choice. This figure is informational — it doesn't change the savings estimate, since the savings range already accounts for typical real-world results.

How the savings range works

The estimated savings show 60% to 80% of the processing fees you currently pay. Most Canadian merchants land somewhere in that range during the first year of a compliant surcharge program. The reason it isn't 100% is straightforward: once a surcharge is visible at checkout, a portion of customers — typically 5–25% of credit volume — switches to debit, cash, or EFT to avoid it. Those payments don't carry a surcharge, so they don't contribute to the offset. The 60–80% range reflects realistic post-shift outcomes across most industries and customer bases.

Want a deeper read?

Surprised by the number?

Most Canadian merchants are. Read the province-by-province rules to understand what's possible in your jurisdiction.

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