Utah Credit Card Surcharge Law
Utah wrote its surcharge ban with an expiration date built in, and when the end of June 2014 arrived the ban simply lapsed. That is Utah credit card surcharge law in miniature: legal today, no statute in force, no state cap, with the card network ceilings doing the governing. Below: the network rules, the full story of the expired ban, the state consumer guidance that still applies, and the details a dealership counter has to get right.
Utah Allows Credit Card Surcharging
No statute bans it, caps it, or sets disclosure rules for it today. Utah tried once, and the ban expired.
As of July 2026, Utah dealerships can charge a credit card surcharge without running into any statute that bans it, caps it, or dictates how to disclose it. The real limits come from the card networks rather than the state, and the next section lays those out in detail. One piece of history worth flagging up front: Utah did ban surcharging once, then let that ban lapse in 2014, and the full account of what happened sits in the history section below.
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Status | Allowed |
| Cap | Card network caps |
| State statute | None in force (a 2013 ban expired in 2014) |
| Disclosure | Card network rules plus state consumer guidance |
Utah 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 statute in force, Visa and Mastercard's own rules do the work.
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Visa: 3% Cap
In force nationwide since April 2023. Utah has no lower state ceiling.
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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 Utah 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.
There Is No Federal Surcharge Cap
A number of surcharge guides warn merchants about a federal cap set at 4 percent. That rule does not exist: no federal statute that caps credit card surcharges has ever been on the books. Visa and Mastercard set their own ceilings, 3 percent and 4 percent, and police them through merchant agreements, not legislation. Debit's no-surcharge policy is written the same way, by the networks, not by Congress.
Utah Passed a Ban and Let It Expire
A rare case where the law canceled itself, right on schedule.
In 2013 Utah enacted Senate Bill 67, creating Utah Code 13-38a-302, titled "Credit card surcharges prohibited." Under that section, a seller could not add a surcharge to a credit card transaction of $10,000 or less. The governor signed the bill April 1, 2013, and it took effect May 14, 2013.
The expiration was written into the bill from the start. The same legislation scheduled the section's repeal for June 30, 2014, and the ban expired right on that schedule. Nobody renewed it, and today's Utah Code carries no trace of it. One line worth knowing if you sell vehicles: even while the ban was in force, it never touched transactions above $10,000, which covers most vehicle purchases.
As of July 2026, nothing has taken its place. The closest the Utah Legislature has come since is House Bill 29 (2026), a hidden-fees pricing bill that would have required advertised prices to show the full price including mandatory fees, with a revised version that counted fees based on how the customer paid. It passed the Utah House 70 to 3 on January 20, 2026, then died in a Senate committee when the session ended March 6, 2026. That bill is not law today, and Utah surcharging still runs on card network rules alone.
What the Program Handles at Your Counter
Whatever happens with future bills, the mechanics at the counter stay the same: notice at the point of entry, notice again at the point of sale, and the surcharge itemized as its own line on the receipt. We track the state, not your front desk.
What Utah's Consumer Office Publishes
Guidance, not a statute, and it points the same direction as the network rules above.
Utah has no surcharge statute on the books today, but the Division of Consumer Protection, the consumer arm of the state's Department of Commerce, publishes business guidance on surcharges under Utah's general consumer-deception law.
In our words, its two rules of thumb come down to this: tell the customer about the surcharge clearly before the customer pays, a line item on the receipt after the fact does not do the job, and label the fee honestly. Do not call something a credit card processing fee unless it reflects what processing the card actually costs.
This is guidance, not a statute or an administrative rule, and no surcharge enforcement action is on record. It points the same direction as the card network rules covered above. A disclosed, honestly labeled surcharge is exactly what the guidance describes.
What This Means at the Counter
The counter just needs three things right.
A standard 3 percent credit card surcharge sits inside Visa's cap. Disclosure done the standard way, notice at the point of entry, notice again at the point of sale, and the surcharge itemized as its own line on the receipt, lines up with both the card network rules and the state's consumer guidance. Debit never carries a surcharge, a card network rule that applies in Utah and every other state, no exceptions and no workarounds.
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.
Straight Answers on Utah Rules
Yes. Utah is the rare state that passed a surcharge ban and then let it expire: Senate Bill 67's prohibition ran its course on June 30, 2014, and no replacement has passed since. With nothing in force today, card network rules are what actually govern a Utah surcharge.
Yes. Utah sets no ceiling of its own, so the card networks draw the line: Visa holds surcharges to 3 percent, Mastercard allows up to 4 percent, and a straight 3 percent charge clears both.
Briefly. A 2013 law banned surcharges on credit card transactions of $10,000 or less. The ban had a built-in expiration date and lapsed on June 30, 2014. It was never renewed, and Utah has had no surcharge statute since.
No Utah statute tells a private merchant how to disclose a surcharge. What the state offers instead is guidance from its Division of Consumer Protection: make the fee clear before the customer pays, and label it honestly. Card network rules add their own standard on top: notice at the point of entry, notice again at the point of sale, and the surcharge itemized as its own line on the receipt.
No, and that has nothing to do with Utah law. Debit, prepaid, and gift cards are excluded from surcharging under the card networks' own rules, a restriction tied to the card type rather than any state, so it holds true here exactly as it does everywhere else. For pricing and program questions beyond state law, see the FAQ page.
Straight Answers on Utah
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