Alabama Credit Card Surcharge Law
Alabama credit card surcharge law allows surcharging statewide, with no state cap on the books. Card network caps set the ceiling, and clear disclosure at the door and the counter keeps you inside the rules. A separate 2026 change touches how the surcharge sits on the sales tax return, not whether you can charge it.
Alabama Allows Credit Card Surcharging
No statute bans it. No statute caps it. No statute even mentions it.
Alabama has no statute that bans, caps, or sets disclosure rules for credit card surcharges by merchants. There is no state law to check against, no state agency guidance to read, and no state cap to stay under.
Alabama dealerships surcharge under the card network rules, which set both the ceiling and the disclosure standard. That is the whole state story.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Status | Allowed |
| Cap | Card network caps |
| State statute | None. No Alabama statute restricts merchant surcharging |
| Disclosure | No state statute. Card network disclosure rules apply |
Alabama is one of 47 states where surcharging is legal. See the full table at credit card surcharge laws by state.
The Card Networks Set the Ceiling
With no state cap on the books, Visa and Mastercard's own rules do the work.
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Visa: 3% Cap
In force nationwide since April 2023. Alabama has no state ceiling of its own.
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Mastercard: 4% Cap
Same network standard as Visa applies, just a higher ceiling.
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Debit Never Surcharges
Debit, prepaid, and gift cards can never carry a surcharge, in Alabama or anywhere else.
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Disclosure Is Mandatory
Post notice at the door and the counter, and show the surcharge as its own line on the receipt.
No State Statute Does Not Mean No Rules
Visa's 3 percent and Mastercard's 4 percent apply to every Alabama dealership, statute or no statute. A standard 3 percent credit card surcharge sits inside Visa's cap.
The Network Standard Is the Standard
No Alabama disclosure statute exists to layer on top of the network rules.
Alabama has no disclosure statute for credit card surcharges, so the card network standard is the standard in Alabama. That means posted notice at the store entrance, the same notice at the point of sale, and the surcharge itemized as its own line on the receipt. For online or card-not-present sales, disclosure has to land before checkout, not after.
There is no second layer of Alabama-specific wording to add, no separate state notice to post, and no state agency to satisfy beyond the networks themselves.
One Setup Covers It
One clean disclosure setup, door notice, counter notice, itemized receipt line, satisfies the network rules with nothing extra layered on by the state.
What This Means at the Counter
The counter just needs three things right.
At the counter, a standard 3% surcharge sits inside Visa's cap. Alabama doesn't add a cap of its own. Notice at the door, notice again at the counter, the surcharge on its own receipt line. That's the whole checklist. We track the state, not your front desk.
Payments post straight to the repair order in CDK Drive, so the surcharge line shows up where your advisors already work. See the full mechanics on the surcharge program page, or walk through exactly what happens at the terminal on the how it works page.
One more wrinkle: today, Alabama treats a credit card surcharge as part of the taxable sales price, so state sales tax applies to the surcharge amount. That changes September 1, 2026. Act 2026-587, signed in April 2026, excludes credit card transaction fees from the sales and use tax base from that date. Ask your accountant or tax advisor how the switch should land in your books. Sales tax is not something we handle, calculate, or advise on.
Straight Answers on Alabama Rules
Yes. Alabama has no statute banning credit card surcharges. There is no state law that restricts the practice, so surcharging runs under the card network rules instead.
Yes. Alabama has no state cap, so Visa's 3 percent network ceiling is the number that applies. Mastercard allows up to 4 percent.
No. Alabama has no state cap on credit card surcharges. The card network caps, 3 percent for Visa and 4 percent for Mastercard, are what actually apply.
No. Debit, prepaid, and gift cards can never carry a surcharge, in Alabama or any other state. That is a card network rule, and it follows the card itself regardless of how it runs at the terminal.
Today, yes. The surcharge counts as part of the taxable sales price. From September 1, 2026, Act 2026-587 excludes credit card transaction fees from the sales and use tax base. Ask your accountant how to handle the switch. For pricing and program questions beyond state law, see the FAQ page.
Straight Answers on Alabama
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