RBA surcharging changes and impact on Stripe trust deposits

From 1 October 2026, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) will ban business surcharges on credit card transactions across the EFTPOS, Mastercard, and Visa networks. 

What changes in Smokeball?

After business hours on 30 September 2026, the following changes will apply:

• Card surcharging on all Stripe transactions will be disabled. When your clients will pay an invoice through Stripe, the full amount will be reflected in Smokeball - however the amount in your bank account will be minus the surcharge.
• Trust deposits through Stripe will be disabled. You will not be able to deposit trust funds or request trust deposits from clients through Stripe.

Smokeball Payments, our other payment provider, is not affected by this change. If your firm takes Trust deposits through Stripe and you wish to keep this functionality, you must move to Smokeball Payments before 1 October 2026.

Moving from Stripe to Smokeball Payments

To continue to take Trust deposits via Credit Card while staying compliant with Law Society trust regulations, change to Smokeball Payments. 

Smokeball Payments also offer a wider range of payment types that will be available in a few months, including Google Pay, Apple Pay, and BNPL. 

For more information about Smokeball Payments and steps to move over, refer to our Smokeball Payments Overview and Setup guide. 

• Approval and activation usually takes two to three business days.
• Switching to Smokeball Payments will not impact the payments link on invoices already issued.