Credit card processing and merchant services in Boston, MA

Boston adopted the state's local option meals excise, and the city's budget office says the tax began on October 1, 2009. So a restaurant meal in Boston is taxed at 7%: the 6.25% state sales tax on meals plus the 0.75% local excise. Other taxable goods sold in the city carry the 6.25% state rate. If you run a restaurant that also sells taxable retail goods, set up the meals rate and the 6.25% rate as separate tax codes.

Owners who have run businesses in other states sometimes assume a card fee is fine here. It isn't. Massachusetts law bars any seller from adding a surcharge when a customer pays by credit card, so a "3% card fee" line on a Boston check is off the table. What you can do is set prices that cover your card costs and offer a discount for cash or check.

How you show those prices matters too. Under the Attorney General's junk fee rules, enforceable since September 2, 2025, the price you present has to be the total price with mandatory fees included, and it has to appear before you ask for a customer's personal information. That applies to online ordering pages as much as printed menus.

You also can't go card-only. Massachusetts law says retail establishments must accept legal tender, and that holds at every counter in the city.

Boston is home to an estimated 672,973 people (Census Bureau, July 1, 2025). We serve merchants here remotely, with a dedicated rep for each account and interchange-plus pricing that makes your real card costs visible. Our restaurant payment guide and a free statement review are good places to start.