What are card fees really costing you?

Square, Stripe or your own rate. By the month and the year.

Card sales in a monthWhat customers paid, before any fees.Number of sales that monthProcessorStandard US rates on each company's pricing page, September 2026. Your statement has your exact rate.

Fees a year$6,960$580.00 a month, 2.9% of your card sales.

Your sales$20,000.00

Fees taken out−$580.00

What lands in your bank$19,420.00

Your bank only shows the $19,420, but your sales were $20,000. Books that record the deposit as your sales undercount income and miss $6,960 a year of deductible fees, and won't match the 1099-K, which reports the full amount. SumSwift records both from your processor's payout report.

Why your deposits aren't your sales

Processors take their fee before they pay you. A $100 sale at 2.6% + 15¢ arrives as $97.25. If your books count the $97.25 as your sales, your income is too low, the $2.75 fee is never counted as an expense, and your sales won't match the 1099-K the processor sends to the IRS, which shows the full $100.

How to get it right

Record the full sale as income and the fee as an expense. Your processor's payout (or transfer) report has both for every deposit. In Square it's under Reports, then Transfers; in Stripe it's under Balance, then Payouts.

Is my rate normal?

Divide a month's fees by that month's card sales. Small, in-person sales usually run close to the advertised percentage; lots of tiny sales or keyed-in cards push it up because of the fixed fee on each one.

Payouts recorded right, in one step.

Upload your statements and your processor's payout report, and SumSwift records every deposit as the full sale plus the fee, matched to your bank to the cent.

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