QuickBooks Payments fees: card, ACH and what a payment plan costs

Checked against Intuit's QuickBooks Payments rates page and help articles, and Stripe's pricing page, on 21 October 2026. Intuit says its rates are accurate as of 18 September 2026. The changelog at the end records each update.

What are the QuickBooks Payments fees?

Intuit publishes its standard US rates on one page, QuickBooks payment rates. It says "All listed rates are per transaction" and that they are accurate as of 18 September 2026.

Fees on a $14,800 plan, 13 paymentsQuickBooks card$442.53Stripe card$433.08QuickBooks ACH$147.96Stripe ACH$65.00Standard US rates as of Oct 2026 · each fee rounded per payment

Two more lines from the same page matter to a finance lead. Payment dispute protection is offered "Starting at .99%". And "If you process more than $2,500 in payments each month", Intuit says you could qualify for up to 25% off transaction costs. That discount is something to ask for on a call, not a published rate.

Is there a cap on QuickBooks ACH fees?

The rates page lists ACH at 1% and shows no cap. Older accounts can be on different terms. In a July 2024 community answer about QuickBooks Self-Employed, Intuit's team said new merchants pay 1% with no cap, while existing merchants kept a $20 cap.

Your own account's fee schedule is the figure to trust. Without a cap, the ACH fee grows with the payment: 1% of a $1,108.33 payment is $11.08, and 1% of a $5,000 payment is $50.

What do QuickBooks Payments fees add up to on a payment plan?

Take the sample plan used across this blog. Jordan Reyes enrolls at the Denver location in a $14,800 program, paid as a $1,500 deposit, eleven monthly payments of $1,108.33 and a last payment of $1,108.37. That is thirteen payments, and every one of them carries its own fee.

Each fee is rounded to the cent on its own, so the column totals differ by a few cents from the rate applied to the whole plan. 2.99% of $14,800 is $442.52, and 1% of $14,800 is $148.00.

Two variations change the picture:

• Keyed-in cards. If someone on your team types the card in for each payment, the 3.5% keyed rate applies. 3.5% of $14,800 is $518.
• Instant deposit. Taking a payment out instantly adds 1.75% of the amount moved. On one $1,108.33 payment that is $19.40.

On this one plan, card costs $294.57 more than ACH.

How does that compare with Stripe's standard pricing?

Stripe's pricing page lists US domestic cards at 2.9% + 30¢ per successful transaction, manually entered cards at an extra 0.5%, and ACH Direct Debit at 0.8% with a $5.00 cap.

The Stripe card figure is $43.80 on the deposit and $32.44 on each of the twelve payments. Every Stripe ACH payment in this plan is over $625, so each one hits the $5 cap.

Card fees are close between the two. ACH is where the shape differs: one is a percentage with no published cap, the other is capped per payment. Either side's negotiated pricing can move both columns, so compare against your own statements.

Can QuickBooks Payments run a payment plan?

Intuit's help docs describe four features that touch paying over time. None of them is called a payment plan.

• Recurring payments. Recurring payments "automatically charge your customers on a scheduled basis", daily, weekly, monthly or annually, by card or ACH bank transfer. The customer consents by email. You can end the series on a date or let it run with no end, and you can add a one-time fee to the first charge. If a payment fails and the customer doesn't update the payment method by the next charge date, Intuit says the recurring payment is automatically canceled.
• Autopay on recurring invoices. The customer signs up from an invoice. Intuit's Autopay article says it is "available for invoices that total $5,000 and below", covers only the full invoice amount, and isn't available on a daily interval.
• A deposit on an estimate. You can request a deposit as an amount or a percentage, the customer pays it online, it sits in a liability account, and it is applied as a partial payment when the estimate becomes an invoice.
• Affirm. Intuit's Affirm article says you pay 2.99% and receive the full invoice amount up front, while Affirm handles collections and repayment risk. The customer spreads payments over 3 to 36 months at an APR based on their credit, on transactions from $50 to $30,000.

So a business-held plan with a deposit, a fixed set of payments and a different last payment means combining these pieces yourself, or using a tool built for plans.

Can you add a card surcharge in QuickBooks Payments?

Yes, where Intuit has turned it on for your account. Its surcharge article says:

• You choose credit card, ACH bank payments or both, and the customer pays the surcharge.
• "QuickBooks sets fixed surcharge rates. You can't set custom rates."
• It applies "only to online invoice payments, including recurring invoices", not to in-person or manual payments.
• Turning it on removes debit cards, prepaid cards, Apple Pay, American Express and Discover as payment methods on your invoices.
• The surcharge appears as its own line and goes to the income account you choose.
• Intuit is "rolling this out gradually", the article names places where it is not permitted, and it says you are responsible for compliance where you operate.

A surcharge is only an option where your state allows it. Intuit says its fixed rates are designed to stay within the cap set by card network rules. Check your state's rules before you turn it on.

How are QuickBooks Payments fees recorded in QuickBooks Online?

Intuit's deposits and fees article says "QuickBooks Online automatically records deposits and fees deducted from your QuickBooks Payments transactions." Payments go to Undeposited Funds as soon as they are processed. When the batch settles, the deposit is matched and the fee is recorded as a separate withdrawal.

Check the accounts under Settings, Account and Settings, then the Payments tab. The deposit account should be the bank account the money actually lands in.

If your locations share one QuickBooks company, tag each payment by class or location so each location's cost of collecting is visible. QuickBooks class vs location, and Xero tracking explains the two. If you take payments through Stripe instead, the Stripe QuickBooks integration covers where each Stripe item goes.

What should you check before you pick a processor for plans?

• Your card share. Most of the cost sits in card payments. What ACH saves on a $15,000 plan shows the gap payment by payment.
• The ACH terms on your account, including any cap.
• Keyed payments. A plan your team keys in each month pays the keyed rate every time.
• How the plan is built. A deposit, a set number of payments and a last payment that absorbs the rounding.
• Surcharge rules where each location operates, and which payment methods a surcharge setting turns off.
• Your books. Fees should land as an expense in the right company, location by location.

Changelog

• 21 October 2026: first published, with Intuit's rates as of 18 September 2026.