Need ability to add a COVID-19 surcharge!

[Juicerx1]

Hi,

We have added a 5% Covid surcharge option in Square POS.  I see an option to have it automatically apply to Square online orders but outside of that, I understand it needs to be manually selected for each POS transaction.  Why is there not an option to have it auto-apply to every in-store POS transaction?  Seems like a no-brainer to me given how popular surcharges have become, particularly with COVID.  Can this be added ASAP please?

Alternatively, is there another method/means of setting up/applying a 5% surcharge to each POS transaction?  One that applies the surcharge to each product before the applicable sales tax is applied.  

Anyway, hoping something can be done asap as we cannot charge the 5% without manually applying on each transaction, unless I'm missing something.

Anyone else looking to do this?  I can't be the only one.
Thanks so much.

[Minion]

Hi @Juicerx1 

So you're looking to charge an additional % fee labeled Covid surcharge to your customers because it's the popular thing to do?  

You may want to check here, and then reference the visa/mastercard surcharge requirements depending on your . Here is a link to the Visa agreement on surcharge as well as Mastercards here. 

[Juicerx1]

Hi Dan.

Thanks for the info. I'd like to add a surcharge not because it's popular, but because we have seen our costs spike and Instead of permanently raising prices, I prefer to add a temporary fee on all transactions.  It appears that visa and MasterCard have requirements as to how surcharges are used to cover the cost of the card. Clearly that's not what the charge is intended to do, nor does it only apply to customers using a CC. Rather, it applies to all forms of payment, regardless of what's purchased. 

if visa and MC's surcharge requirements still apply in our situation, it won't work for us as the max surcharge fee cannot exceed what we pay in transaction fees (at least with visa). 

[Minion]

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@Juicerx1 wrote:

Hi Dan.

Thanks for the info. I'd like to add a surcharge not because it's popular, but because we have seen our costs spike and Instead of permanently raising prices, I prefer to add a temporary fee on all transactions.  It appears that visa and MasterCard have requirements as to how surcharges are used to cover the cost of the card. Clearly that's not what the charge is intended to do, nor does it only apply to customers using a CC. Rather, it applies to all forms of payment, regardless of what's purchased. 

if visa and MC's surcharge requirements still apply in our situation, it won't work for us as the max surcharge fee cannot exceed what we pay in transaction fees (at least with visa). 

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Ahh Okay, yeah that makes sense.  Yes that fee would be larger than that allowed my Vias/MC .  I guess in your situation, and for a temporary fix I would think that the following would do the same outcome, but it would just be labeled "tax".  I'm not sure if it would work for your situation. 

From the Dashboard>Accounts & Settings > Sales Tax> Create Tax.  You can attach the 5% to all items quickly, and I believe would be the same as adding it to the total?  Granted it would say it was a tax in your reports, but you would be able to distinguish that it was to raise prices temporarily. 

Let me know if that will work. 

[Juicerx1]

Hi Dan.  Thank you for the thoughts and suggestions and for taking the time.  Yes, we're currently applying the 5% surcharge as a sales tax.  The reason I wanted to apply it as a surcharge is because Square won't (or can't) apply sales tax to the surcharge if it's setup as a sales tax.  And most states regard a surcharge on products to essentially be part of the product (sales) price, thereby rendering it subject to sales tax.  

Perhaps Square devs can add an option to automatically apply a surcharge to every POS transaction?  There's already an option to automatically apply to online sales, why not POS sales, right?  That should solve the problem of the surcharge not being taxed.  Plus, it's more appropriate if it's not labeled as a sales tax (auditors don't like to see that).

[Minion · Accepted solution]

Hey @Juicerx1 

Yeah I know all about the labeling as a tax.  It worked for the time, but always seemed to raise an eyebrow when someone saw tax that they weren't getting it "cough, NY cough"

Anyways, so looking at this thread, and re-reading your original post, in a nut shell, you can and should be able to create your service charge for the 5%, assuming its not labeled "credit card " surcharge.  But yes unfortunately it doesn't look like it has the ability to apply to all POS like it does in online, and would then need to be a feature request, with no timeline however of if/when it would be available.