Card payment obligation 2027: what restaurants must offer and what it costs

Key points

• The plan: anyone selling on site should offer at least one digital payment option from 2027. There is no law yet (as of 22 Oct 2026).
• It is not a card obligation in the strict sense: you choose the method yourself. According to some reports, at least one European method is to be included.
• Card payments with SumUp cost 1.39 %, or 0.79 % plus €19 a month. With providers that charge a fixed fee per payment, small bills become expensive.
• An instant bank transfer via QR code costs you no percentage of revenue. Whether it alone meets the obligation will only be clear from the law itself.

What exactly is planned

The coalition agreement of CDU, CSU and SPD states: “We are committed to genuine freedom of choice in payments and want cash and at least one digital payment option to be offered step by step as a rule.”

On 11 September 2026, Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil presented key points for this. According to reports, the obligation is to apply to retail, hospitality and service businesses wherever customers pay on site. No revenue threshold is planned. Non-commercial organisations, such as amateur sports clubs at their club fête, are to be exempt.

Status: The ministry has published neither the key points nor a draft bill (as of 22 Oct 2026). The Bundestag and Bundesrat still have to approve it. No fixed start date such as 1 January 2027 has been set. Whether there will be fines, and which, is open.

Which payment methods count

According to the key points, it is about “digital payment methods that are available and commonly used on the market”. Which method you offer is to be up to you. According to some reports, at least one European method is to be included; which ones would qualify is not known.

• Card at the terminal: girocard, Visa, Mastercard, plus Apple Pay and Google Pay using the same cards. This is the safe route.
• Wero: the European banks’ payment method. At the till it currently works in Belgium and Luxembourg; there is no date for Germany yet.
• Instant bank transfer via QR code: European (SEPA), with no card fee. Whether it counts as a “commonly used” method for the obligation will only be settled by the law.

Regardless of this, one rule already applies today: you may not charge consumers a surcharge for common cards (§ 270a German Civil Code).

What each option costs on typical bills

In hospitality, bills are small. So what matters is less the percentage than whether a fixed fee per payment is added. The table shows the fee per payment for a consumer card from the euro area.

SumUp: 1.39 % without a subscription. SumUp Plus: 0.79 % for consumer cards from the EEA, for €19 a month or €199 a year; business and premium cards cost 1.39 %. Stripe: 1.5 % plus €0.25 per payment. Prices as of October 2026. Keksu charges nothing for QR bank transfers. Depending on your account, your bank may charge per booking; check your account terms.

Example: a snack bar that only takes cash today

€8,000 revenue a month, average bill €9. Assume 40 % of guests pay digitally once they can: €3,200 a month.

For cards you also need the terminal, from €34 net at SumUp. Below roughly €3,200 card revenue a month, the Plus subscription hardly pays off.

Example: a café with lots of card payments

€15,000 revenue a month, of which €10,500 digital, average bill €12, so around 875 payments.

If one in five digital guests pays by QR bank transfer instead of card, you save around €17 a month with SumUp Plus, or around €29 without a subscription. The big difference therefore arises where the QR bank transfer is the only digital payment method.

Taking digital payments without a card terminal

For businesses that only take cash today, there is a way with no terminal and no card fee: instant bank transfer via QR code. This is how it works with Keksu:

1. The POS shows a QR code with your IBAN, the amount and a payment reference.
2. The guest scans it with their banking app. Amount and reference are filled in; they confirm the instant transfer.
3. The money is in your account within seconds. With Qonto and Revolut Business the POS detects the payment automatically and books it. With any other bank, staff check the payment in the banking app and tap “Confirm payment”.
4. The receipt is signed by the TSE as usual, as a non-cash “bank transfer” payment.

Since October 2025, all banks in the euro area must send and receive instant transfers, and may not charge more for them than for a regular transfer (Regulation (EU) 2024/886). So the payment costs your guests nothing extra.

What honestly does not work

• Not every app scans the code. Some banking apps (such as N26 or Revolut) cannot read the QR code. The guest then types in the IBAN and reference; both are shown next to the code.
• Slower than contactless. Scanning and confirming takes about half a minute.
• Tourists. Guests with accounts outside the euro area cannot pay this way. If you have many international guests, you still need a card terminal.
• The payee name must match. Since October 2025, banks check the name against the account holder. If it differs, the guest sees a warning. So enter the name exactly as it appears at your bank.
• Legally open. Whether the QR bank transfer alone meets the planned obligation will only be decided by the law.

The POS obligation is a separate law

Separately from the payment obligation, the government is planning a cash register obligation. Under the government draft (cabinet, 23 September 2026), it applies to businesses with more than €100,000 annual revenue, from 1 January 2028 at the earliest. Businesses taking less than €12,000 in cash a year are to be exempt. This draft is not law yet either.

If you need a POS with TSE anyway, it pays to plan both together: POS, payment methods and receipts from one system.

Checklist for your business

1. Check how much revenue is paid in cash today and how high your typical bill is.
2. Calculate the card fee with your own bill, not the provider’s example.
3. Decide whether you need a terminal (many tourists, guests want to pay contactless) or whether the QR bank transfer is enough.
4. Enter the payee name exactly as at your bank.
5. Decide who confirms payments for banks without a connection.
6. Watch the draft bill: start date, permitted methods, transition periods.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

1. gruendung.de: card payment obligation (as of 7 Oct 2026, German)
2. ZDFheute: card payment to become mandatory alongside cash (11 Sep 2026, German)
3. hogapage.de: card payment to become mandatory in hospitality (11 Sep 2026, German)
4. mydealz magazine: card payment obligation from 2027 (12 Sep 2026, German)
5. Regulation (EU) 2024/886 on instant credit transfers
6. Rödl & Partner: introduction of Verification of Payee (10 Oct 2025, German)
7. SumUp: pricing
8. Stripe: pricing