Get Started with Service Charges | Square Support Center (2024)

1. From the Square POS app, tap Library.
2. You can search for service charges by name, or tap the Service Charge category.
3. Choose all of the service charges that apply to the sale.
4. Tap Review Sale to check the details of the transaction.
5. Tap Charge.

The service charge will show as a line item on your customer’s receipt and in your transaction report details.

1. From the Checkout screen, hold down a tile then tap Edit tile grid.
2. Under Add to page, tap Action.
3. Check the Service charges action tile box.
4. Select applicable service charges.
5. Tap Done.

From there, you can move the tile to rearrange or tap the Service charges tile to make edits at any time.

To checkout a customer with a service charge:

1. Add items to cart.
2. Tap the applicable items, then tap Apply Service Charge.
3. Choose applicable service charges, then tap Save.
4. Tap Add to Cart
5. Tap Charge to complete the payment.

To remove the service charge from the cart, swipe left, then tap Delete.

1. Open your Restaurants POS app and select the order to which you want to apply a service charge.
2. Tap Actions > Service Charges.
3. Select the service charge you want to apply.

1. From the Square Invoices app, tap create a new invoice.
2. Tap Add a line item to apply a service charge.
3. Select any preexisting service charges you want to apply to the invoice.
4. Fill out the rest of your invoice and send it as you normally would.

The service charge will show as a line item in your customer’s invoice and receipt and in your report details.

To apply service charges during the invoice creation process from your online Square Dashboard:

1. Go to Payments > Invoices.
2. Select Send an invoice and fill out your invoice details.
3. Under Line items, select Add service charge.
4. Create a new service charge or choose an existing service charge. Indicate the amount of the service charge and add sales tax if needed.
5. Click Add to apply the service charge to your invoice.
6. Complete the rest of your invoice and send it to your customer as you normally would, then click Send.

To create service charges for Virtual Terminal payments:

1. From your online Square Dashboard, go to Settings > Account & Settings.
2. Click Business information > Service charges and choose Create service charge to enter the service charge information:

• Enter the name for your service charge (like a packing fee).
• Enter the percentage or amount.
• Choose whether or not the service charges will be taxable.
• Choose the location(s) where this service charge will apply, click Save and select Add.

To add the service charge you created to the sale:

1. From your online Square Dashboard, select Virtual Terminal > Take a payment. If you don’t see Virtual Terminal, select Payments > Virtual Terminal > Take a payment.
2. Choose if you want to charge an itemized sale or process a Quick Charge. Under Transaction details, choose the purchased items, or manually enter the amount to be charged. Note: You can edit taxes to be charged for each item by clicking the item name.
3. Select Add service charge.
4. Choose the service charge you created, or Create service charge. Important: Make sure to let your customer know about any service charges before you proceed.
5. Click Add to add the service charge to the sale, then enter Payment details, customer information and choose payment method. Note: You can select Add additional service charge to add more than one service charge to the sale and repeat the process.
6. Click Charge to charge the total amount, including applicable taxes and service charges. The service charge will show as a line item in your customer’s invoice and receipt and in your report details.

You can enable or disable service charges from your online Square Dashboard by selecting Virtual Terminal > Settings > Checkout, and toggling on or off the Allow service charges option.

Any service charge can be automatically applied to Square Online orders fulfilled via pickup, delivery, or self-serve ordering.

1. Go to Account & Settings from your online Square Dashboard.
2. Click Business information > Service charges > Create service charge.
3. Name your service charge. This name will be displayed on customer receipts and order summaries.
4. Choose a percentage-based or fixed price service charge, then enter the amount of the charge.
5. Select the location where the charge applies and add any applicable taxes.
6. If applicable, toggle on Automatically apply this service charge to Square Online orders, then select which fulfillment types you want the charges to apply to.
7. Click Save.

Note: Item-level taxes must be enabled for these fulfillment types before you can set up automatic service charges.

1. From your online Square Dashboard, create a service charge by going to Account & Settings > Business information > Service charges > Create service charge.
2. Enter the name and amount or percentage of your service charge. Select Taxable (assigned), and select the locations where the service charge will be available.
3. Access the service charges created within Square Online Checkout through Online Checkout > General > Service charges > Add service charge.
4. Select the service charges you would like to automatically apply to Square Online Checkout purchases.
5. Click Save.

Because payment networks recently updated their rules around credit card surcharging, Square cannot support surcharging at this time, and you cannot use the service charge feature to add a credit card surcharge.

While we work to develop a compliant surcharging feature for sellers, there are options to more effectively manage your costs, including reviewing your pricing strategy with our Pricing Calculator and using cash discounts. Learn more about our Pricing Calculator, and cash discounting programs.

Note: Surcharging is not permitted on debit cards, prepaid cards, or Afterpay transactions. Surcharging is also subject to local laws and regulations that apply to your business and must comply with card network rules, including notification requirements.

A service charge is an extra fee added to a sale to cover any additional expenses outside the cost of the initial goods being sold, such as a bagging fee or delivery fee. Service charges can be a single flat fee or based on a percentage of the total sale amount.

A surcharge is a fee added to a sale by the seller to the costs of goods or services when a buyer pays for a transaction with a credit card. Surcharges are different from a convenience fee, which covers the costs of accepting payment outside of a seller’s usual channel, no matter what payment method is used.

The percentage or dollar amount of the service charge to be charged to the customer during checkout is editable if you’ve set up the service charge as a “variable” service charge.

Yes, so long as this is permitted under the local laws and regulations that apply to your business. You can create a non-taxable service charge, meaning the charge won’t be taxed at checkout. You can also assign one or more taxes to a charge, and the amounts owed to cover those taxes will be charged to the customer during checkout.

Once you create service charges from your online Square Dashboard via a web browser on your mobile device or computer, you can apply it to a transaction on the

• Square Point of Sale app,
• Square Restaurants POS app,
• Square Invoices app,
• Square Retail POS app (on iOS, Square Terminal, and Square Register),
• Virtual Terminal, or
• via your online Square Dashboard.

Service charges are not available for Square Appointments or Afterpay transactions.

No. Service charges and credit card surcharges are two separate types of fees.

Note: Under no circ*mstances are you permitted to apply a special charge to a customer solely because they are electing to pay with a debit card or prepaid card.

You can apply multiple individual service charges, but you cannot apply a single service charge more than once. For example, you can apply a pickup service charge and a bag service charge to the same sale, but you can’t apply the bag service charge more than once to that same sale.

Because Square charges payment processing fees based on the total amount of a transaction rather than the subtotal, the Square fees also apply to funds you receive from your customer through the application of service charges. The processing fees will still be charged on the cart total plus new service charge.

For example, on a $100 tax inclusive transaction with a processing rate of 1.9% and a service charge at the same rate, the buyer will be charged $101.90, but the processing fees will be $1.93.