Credit card processing and merchant services in Iowa

Most taxable sales in Iowa carry 7%, not 6%. The state rate is 6%, and the Iowa Department of Revenue says an additional 1% applies to most taxable sales because many cities and counties impose a local option sales tax. The department publishes updates when jurisdictions start collecting it, and Coralville, Iowa City and North Liberty appear on its list of new impositions. If you open a second location, check its local option status rather than copying the first store's settings.

Iowa has no surcharge statute that we could find, and NCSL's table lists none, but that doesn't make every surcharge allowed. Visa limits it to your cost or 3%, Mastercard to your cost or 4%, debit and prepaid cards are off limits, and the surcharge has to be posted at your entrance and checkout and shown on the receipt.

A surcharge isn't the only lever, and for many small businesses it's not the best one. Take a shop running $30,000 a month on cards. Every 0.25% shaved off its effective rate is $75 a month, or $900 a year, and customers never see a thing. That's the case for interchange-plus pricing: you pay the card networks' actual interchange plus a disclosed markup, instead of a blended rate that hides the gap.

Clearo gives Iowa merchants a dedicated rep and month-to-month terms with no cancellation fee. Start with a free statement review; if you'd still rather pass the cost along afterward, our surcharging program handles the disclosures.