Tank Track can automatically add a surcharge to recover the cost of accepting credit cards. Surcharging is governed by a layered set of rules: card network policies, federal law, and individual state law. Tank Track applies all of them automatically on every payment. This article explains those rules and how they shape what a customer actually pays.
What a surcharge is
A surcharge is a fee added to a payment to offset the processing cost a business incurs when a customer pays by credit card. Instead of absorbing that cost or building it into prices for everyone, surcharging passes it specifically to the customers who choose to pay by credit card. In Tank Track, when a surcharge applies it is 3% of the transaction amount, added as a separate, itemized line on the invoice and receipt so it is always visible and clearly labeled.
A surcharge is not a markup or a convenience charge that a business can apply at will. It exists within tight rules about which payments it can touch, how large it can be, and where it is allowed at all. The sections below cover each of those.
Surcharging applies to credit cards only
The most important rule is that surcharging is permitted on credit cards and nothing else.
Debit cards, including prepaid cards and check cards, can never be surcharged anywhere in the United States. This is a federal and card-network rule rather than a business preference, and it cannot be overridden. A payment that runs as debit must be processed at face value, even in states and situations where credit card surcharging is fully allowed.
Because the card type determines whether a surcharge is even legal, Tank Track checks it at the moment of payment. When a card is entered, Tank Track tokenizes it and looks up the issuing details to determine whether it is credit or debit, then applies a surcharge only if it is a credit card. This is why two payments of the same amount can come out differently. A credit card payment may carry the 3% surcharge, while a debit card payment for the same invoice carries none.
Bank payments made by ACH are treated the same way as debit. They carry no surcharge and are always processed at face value.
State law decides where surcharging is allowed
Even on a credit card, surcharging is only permitted if the law in the customer's state allows it. The rules form a patchwork that has shifted considerably over the past several years, and they fall into roughly three groups.
States that ban surcharging entirely. A small number of jurisdictions prohibit credit card surcharges outright. In these places, Tank Track will not add a surcharge even to a credit card payment:
Connecticut
Massachusetts
Maine
Puerto Rico
In a banned jurisdiction, a credit card payment goes through with no surcharge. That is the legally required outcome, not a configuration gap.
States that cap the surcharge. Some states allow surcharging but limit how large it can be. For example, Colorado and Oklahoma cap it at 2%, and Minnesota at 5%. In these states a surcharge may still appear, but it can be smaller than Tank Track's standard 3% because the state ceiling takes precedence.
States that permit surcharging. Most of the country allows credit card surcharging, subject to the disclosure and card-network rules described below.
The surcharge can never exceed processing cost or the network cap
On top of state law, the card networks impose their own ceiling. Visa and Mastercard limit surcharges to a maximum of 3%, and the surcharge can never be more than what it actually costs the business to accept the card. Tank Track's 3% rate is set to stay within both the network cap and any lower limit a particular state imposes. Where a state caps the fee below 3%, the lower state figure controls.
Disclosure is built in
Surcharging rules also require that the fee be disclosed clearly and shown to the customer before and after the transaction. Tank Track handles this by listing the surcharge as its own labeled line item on the invoice and on the receipt, rather than folding it silently into the total. The customer can always see the base amount and the surcharge separately.
What this means in practice
Putting the rules together, a surcharge is added only when a payment clears every one of these conditions at once: it is made with a credit card, the customer's state permits surcharging, surcharging is enabled on the business's account, and the fee stays within the applicable cap.
If any one of those is not met, no surcharge appears, and in nearly every case that is the correct and required result. The most common reasons a credit card customer sees no surcharge are simply that they paid by debit or ACH, or that they are located in Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, or Puerto Rico, where the practice is prohibited.
Surcharging rules are set by the card networks and by state law, and they change over time. Tank Track keeps its surcharging logic aligned with current rules, but this article is for general guidance and is not legal advice. For questions about surcharging in a specific state, consult your own advisor.