Starting October 19, the IRS can accept credit and debit card tax payments directly. Any processing cost the agency pays to take a card will be billed back to the person paying, and that charge is not a tax, so it cannot be refunded or credited later. For households that put a tax bill on a card, the fee is the part to understand before the date arrives.

The change comes from a Treasury Department and IRS final rule, published in the Federal Register as TD 10060, which applies to tax payments and fees made on or after October 19, 2026. It adopts, without change, a proposal the agencies issued on July 2, 2024. Frank J. Bisignano, who signs as Chief Executive Officer, and Kevin M. Salinger, acting assistant secretary of the Treasury for tax policy, signed it.

What changes on October 19

Card payments to the IRS now run through two outside companies, Pay1040 and ACI Payments, which charge the fee. The IRS page on paying by card says no part of that fee goes to the IRS. The new rule lets the IRS take cards itself, and it spells out who carries the cost when it does.

Anyone with a balance due, an estimated payment or a bill from an IRS letter who is thinking about using a card from October 19 on has two things to settle: whether a card is the right way to pay, and what the fee will be on that day. The rule leaves the second answer open for now, because it sets no dollar figure.

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How the reimbursement fee works

When the IRS pays a card-processing fee under a contract, the rule says it must recover the full amount from the people paying by card, as a reimbursement fee. The charge is added for the person using the card. It is not absorbed by the agency or spread across all taxpayers.

The rule is blunt about what the fee is not. It states that the reimbursement fee is not a tax imposed by the tax code, and that no portion of it is eligible for refund or credit under section 6402. A person who overpays tax can still get the tax back, but the fee stays paid.

The rule sets no dollar amounts. It caps the reimbursement fee at what the IRS pays under the relevant contract and directs the agency to seek to minimize those fees when it negotiates. Card issuers can still add their own charges, and the IRS may not receive any part of them.

What a card payment costs today

The IRS card page lists the current fees. Debit cards carry a flat $2.15 through Pay1040 or $2.10 through ACI Payments. Credit cards run 1.75% with a $2.50 minimum at Pay1040 and 1.85% with a $2.50 minimum at ACI Payments. Commercial cards cost 2.89% and 2.95%.

On a $5,000 balance, 1.75% comes to $87.50 and 1.85% comes to $92.50, simple arithmetic on those posted rates. The same payment by debit card would cost about $2. Whether the reimbursement fee after October 19 will match those numbers has not been announced, since the rule leaves the amount to the contracts the IRS signs.

The card page also says the tax payment and the fee appear as separate lines on a card statement, one labeled as a United States Treasury tax payment and the other as a convenience fee. That separation is why the fee does not travel with the tax if the tax is later refunded.

Ways to pay an IRS bill without a fee

The IRS payments page lists bank account payments as accepted for all tax payments and free. It says a check or money order is also accepted for all tax payments. Fees apply to debit, credit and digital wallet payments, and fees may apply to a same-day wire. The page was last reviewed October 13, 2026.

Direct Pay, the IRS tool for paying from a bank account, costs nothing and needs no sign-in. For individuals it covers balance due, estimated tax and other federal income tax. A payment can be scheduled, and it can be changed or canceled up to two days before the payment date.

People who cannot pay a bill in full have another route. The IRS page on payment plans lists a short-term plan for paying within 180 days and long-term monthly plans. Online setup costs $0 for a short-term plan for individuals and $29 for a long-term plan paid by direct debit, while penalties and interest still build on an unpaid balance. The page notes that card fees apply if monthly payments are made by card.

For someone who has a reason to prefer a card, such as a short gap before a paycheck or a pension deposit, the arithmetic above is the price of that choice. The difference after October 19 is that the fee is written into a federal regulation, it cannot be claimed back as tax, and its size will depend on what the IRS agrees to pay a card processor.

Paying an IRS bill by card after October 19?

A fee paid on a card cannot come back as tax, even when the bill itself turns out to be wrong. A person who pays an IRS notice by card and later learns the amount was off can get the overpaid tax back, but not the processing fee.

The money question here is how to pay a bill. The related job is knowing what the bill says and where any refund stands, and The IRS Refund Recovery Kit is built for that. It includes a notice decoder and a refund status tracker spreadsheet, and Part 4 walks through why an IRS letter or refund stalled.

Get the notice decoder and refund tracker to check an IRS bill before paying it →

More Financial Reading

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• 21 Ways Retirees Can Raise $1,000 Fast Without a Job

This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.