Credit card processing and merchant services in Kingston, ON

A $180 night at a Kingston bed and breakfast isn't a $180 card payment. The City of Kingston adds a 5% Municipal Accommodation Tax to stays of 30 days or less at hotels, motels, bed and breakfasts and short-term rentals, and it says the MAT is itself subject to the 13% HST. For a host registered for HST, that night comes to $180 for the room, $9 of MAT and $24.57 of HST, or $213.57 on the card.

The tax applies to the accommodation fee only. The City names valet parking, laundry service and breakfast as fees outside it, so a host who builds breakfast into the room rate ends up charging MAT on food. Give breakfast its own line. Stays longer than 30 days are exempt, and so is accommodation provided as a shelter or supplied by an employer to its own employees.

Short-term rentals also need a City licence to operate, and since 2021 their operators have had to collect the MAT. HST registration is a separate, federal matter. The CRA says a business with $30,000 or less in taxable revenue over four consecutive calendar quarters is a small supplier and doesn't have to register, so a host renting out one room may have no HST to charge at all. That rule covers GST and HST only; the MAT has its own rules on the City's page.

Small hosts mostly need two ways to get paid: one at checkout and one before arrival. Our mobile payments setup handles tap and chip at the door, and a payment link from our virtual terminal collects deposits without anyone reading a card number over the phone.

Statistics Canada counted 132,485 people in Kingston in 2021, up 7.0% from 2016. We price on interchange-plus with no long-term contract. A free statement review shows what your bookings cost to process, and our Ontario page covers the provincial rules.