Card Acceptance for Sole Traders 2026: Tariffs and Hidden Costs

You are choosing acquiring for your FOP and see a rate of 1.5–2% in the advertising. Then three extra lines appear in the contract: terminal rental, a monthly minimum fee and “refunds — per tariff”. This article helps you build a complete picture of costs and choose the right type of acquiring for your business without overpaying.

If you are not yet familiar with what acquiring is and how it works technically, start with the basic explanation: Acquiring in 2026: what it is and how to connect it in Ukraine.

# What the real cost of acquiring consists of

The cost of acquiring for a FOP is the sum of four components, and most offers advertise only the first one.

Transaction fee — a percentage of each payment amount. Banks set it separately for different card types: Visa/Mastercard debit, credit, premium and foreign-bank cards. Rates differ. Check the tariffs on the bank’s website or in the contract.

Terminal rental — a fixed monthly fee if you are renting a POS device from the bank. Some banks offer the terminal as a purchase or free of charge above a certain turnover — but “free” in such cases usually means a higher transaction percentage or a higher current-account subscription fee.

Monthly minimum fee — the floor below which the bank will not let its monthly earnings fall. If your transaction commissions for the month come to less than the minimum, the bank charges the difference. For a FOP with seasonal or irregular sales, this item can eat up more money than the percentage itself.

Refund charge — when a buyer returns goods and you cancel a payment, some banks do not return the commission they already charged at the time of the original transaction. Some charge a separate fee for the refund operation itself. If refunds are frequent in your business (clothing, footwear, gifts), this item materially affects your effective rate.

# Acquiring with no commission — where the cost hides

“Acquiring with no commission” or “0% per transaction” are real offers from some banks. But the cost does not disappear — it moves.

Scheme 1: Higher subscription fee. The bank charges no percentage on turnover but instead sets a fixed monthly fee. If your turnover is low, this is advantageous. Once turnover exceeds a certain threshold, you would pay less under a percentage-based scheme. The threshold is easy to calculate: divide the subscription fee by the rate of the alternative offer.

Example: a subscription fee of UAH 500 instead of 1.5%. At UAH 500 ÷ 0.015 = UAH 33,333 of monthly card turnover, both options cost the same. Lower turnover — the subscription fee is cheaper; higher turnover — the percentage is cheaper.

Scheme 2: Higher current-account tariff. Some banks link acquiring to current-account services (rozrakhunkovo-kasove obsluhovuvannia, or RKO). “Free” acquiring comes in a bundle with a more expensive RKO tariff plan. Before agreeing, compare the combined total (acquiring + RKO) with an offer from another bank. For more on current-account cost structure, see RKO for FOP 2026: what a business account really costs at 6 banks.

Scheme 3: Deferred percentage in a credit product. Some fintech solutions offer free connection and a zero rate but earn on currency conversion or data sales. Check the payment-processing terms and the timelines for funds being credited to your account.

The rule: add up all payments to the bank for the month and divide by card turnover. The result is your effective rate. It rarely matches the advertised percentage.

# Three types of acquiring — which suits your business

In-store (POS) acquiring — a terminal at the point of sale or the till. Suitable for offline retail where the buyer is physically present. Higher reliability, support for chip cards and NFC. Downside: device rental or purchase, installation and maintenance.

SoftPOS — an application on an Android smartphone or tablet that accepts contactless payments. The NBU permits such solutions provided the supplier is certified. Advantages: no terminal to buy, easy to scale across several locations or for mobile trading. Important: check that the solution provider holds NBU authorisation — the regulator publishes the list.

Internet acquiring — a payment form or button on a website, in an application or in a Telegram bot. Suitable for online sales, services, courses and delivery with advance payment. No terminal is needed, but integration with a website or payment service is required, which involves some technical effort or a ready-made solution.

When acquiring is not worth it at all. If monthly card turnover is low and irregular (for example, seasonal sales a few times a year), the monthly minimum fee and terminal rental may cost more than the convenience of cashless payment is worth. In that case, it makes sense to first evaluate payment links via Wayforpay, LiqPay or similar services — some of these have no fixed subscription fee, only a percentage of turnover.

# What changes for single-tax groups 2 and 3

Acquiring itself does not depend on your single-tax group — it can be connected in both group 2 and group 3. There are, however, nuances that affect the choice.

Group 2. The income limit in 2026 is UAH 7,211,598 per year (Tax Code, Art. 291). Clients may only be single-tax payers and the general public. If you want to accept payments from legal entities or foreign clients on general terms, group 3 is required. Acquiring turnover counts towards total income; monitor that it does not exceed the limit.

Group 3. The limit is UAH 10,091,049 per year. The single-tax rate is 3% with VAT or 5% without VAT (rates are set by the Tax Code; check the current percentages on the State Tax Service website or in our FOP tax calculator 2026). If you are a VAT payer, ensure VAT is accounted for correctly in payment transactions — this affects reporting.

Settlement document. Regardless of group, when accepting cashless payments a FOP is required to issue a settlement document: either via a software cash register (prohramnyy reiestratory rozrakhunkovykh operatsiy, or PRRO) or a traditional cash register. The rules for using cash registers are set by the State Tax Service; the exemption for group 1 FOPs is defined in the Tax Code. If you do not have a PRRO, connecting acquiring automatically means additional costs for a cash-register programme.

A common mistake: a FOP assumes that acquiring replaces the cash register. It does not. Acquiring is merely the tool for receiving payment; the settlement document must be generated separately.

# How to calculate your effective rate from your own turnover

The effective rate is everything you pay the bank per month divided by your card turnover.

Formula:

Effective rate = (turnover × transaction % + terminal rental + monthly minimum if triggered + refund charges) ÷ turnover × 100%

Example. A FOP nail technician with monthly card turnover of UAH 60,000, an average transaction of UAH 500 (120 transactions) and almost no refunds. Sample terms: 1.8% per transaction, terminal rental UAH 300/month, monthly minimum UAH 200.

• Commission on turnover: UAH 60,000 × 0.018 = UAH 1,080
• Rental: UAH 300
• Monthly minimum: UAH 1,080 > UAH 200, so the minimum is not triggered
• Total: UAH 1,080 + UAH 300 = UAH 1,380
• Effective rate: UAH 1,380 ÷ UAH 60,000 × 100% = 2.3%

The real cost is higher than the advertised 1.8% because of the fixed terminal rental.

The same example at UAH 10,000 turnover per month.

• Commission: UAH 10,000 × 0.018 = UAH 180
• Monthly minimum is triggered: you pay UAH 200 instead of UAH 180
• Rental: UAH 300
• Total: UAH 200 + UAH 300 = UAH 500
• Effective rate: UAH 500 ÷ UAH 10,000 × 100% = 5.0%

The same bank, the same rate, but at low turnover the effective cost is more than double.

The impact of refunds. If refunds are common in a business — for example, 10% of UAH 60,000 = UAH 6,000 in refunds per month — and the bank does not return the 1.8% commission on those refunds:

• Losses on refunds: UAH 6,000 × 0.018 = UAH 108 per month
• Some banks also charge UAH 10–30 per individual refund transaction — 60 refunds × UAH 20 = UAH 1,200 per month

These figures come from a hypothetical example, but the order of magnitude shows that ignoring this item when refunds make up a significant share of transactions is unwise.

To run the calculation with your own figures, use the FOP tax calculator 2026 for the overall financial picture, or ask the bank for a written calculation when concluding the contract — most banks will provide one on request.

One common mistake. A FOP compares banks solely on the advertised percentage and signs with the lowest rate. It then turns out that this bank has higher terminal rental or a monthly minimum that the competitor does not charge. Compare the total monthly amount at your actual turnover, not the percentage from the banner.

Before signing the contract, also check the termination terms: some banks charge a penalty for returning a rented terminal early or require a month’s notice. This does not affect day-to-day costs, but it matters if you plan to change banks.

# See also

• FOP Tax Calculator 2026 — calculate single tax, the unified social contribution (ESV) and the military levy for your group
• RKO for FOP 2026: what a business account really costs — a comparison of banks by current-account cost structure
• PrivatBank for FOP 2026: tariffs, payroll project, IBAN — terms at one of the most widely used banks for entrepreneurs
• Acquiring in 2026: what it is and how to connect it in Ukraine — a basic explanation if you are not yet clear on the mechanics