Paying the IRS by Credit Card After T.D. 10060: Fees Still 1.75% to 1.85%, $4,375 to $4,625 on $250,000
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Quick Answer
The IRS may now accept cards itself and bill you the fee, but nothing you pay has changed: on November 4, 2026 the IRS page still lists two private processors, Pay1040 at 1.75% and ACI Payments at 1.85% for a credit card, so a $250,000 balance costs $4,375 or $4,625 (our arithmetic). T.D. 10060 (91 FR 65980) took effect October 19, 2026. It lets the IRS contract for card payments and, if it pays a fee, recover the full amount from you as a “reimbursement fee” on top of the tax. The rule itself says it does not “implement any particular payment process or contract.” A commercial card costs 2.89% or 2.95% ($7,225 or $7,375 on $250,000, our arithmetic), a consumer debit card a flat $2.15 or $2.10, and Direct Pay from a bank account is free.
Key Takeaways
- The rule is an enabling rule, not a launch. T.D. 10060 amends Treasury Regulation 301.6311-2 and applies to “payments of taxes and reimbursement fees made on or after October 19, 2026.” The preamble says the regulations “do not actually implement any particular payment process or contract.” We found no IRS page, notice or contract announcing a direct card channel or a reimbursement-fee amount as of November 4, 2026.
- The price is unchanged. The IRS fee page, updated October 22, 2026, shows the same rates as Internet Archive captures of the same page from April 15, 2025 and July 26, 2026: Pay1040 1.75% and ACI Payments 1.85% on a credit card, 2.89% and 2.95% on a commercial card, $2.50 minimum, and a flat $2.15 or $2.10 on a consumer debit card.
- On a large bill the fee is real money. On $250,000 a credit card costs $4,375 (Pay1040) or $4,625 (ACI); on $1,000,000 it is $17,500 or $18,500; a commercial card on $250,000 costs $7,225 or $7,375 (our arithmetic). The fee is paid in addition to the tax, and no part of it goes to the IRS.
- When the IRS starts charging its own fee it will not be a tax and cannot be refunded. Section 301.6311-2(e)(3) says the reimbursement fee is limited to the fees the IRS pays, is paid “at the time of, and in addition to, the tax payment,” and that “no portion of the reimbursement fee is eligible for refund or credit under section 6402.” The Commissioner “will seek to minimize the amount of the fees paid.”
- Against the cost of owing, a 1.75% fee equals about 1.6 months of the 0.5% failure-to-pay penalty plus the 7% underpayment interest rate that applies to the fourth quarter of 2026, or about 3 months of interest alone (our arithmetic, simple interest). It is a price for a few weeks, not a price for a year.
- Card payments have caps the free routes do not. The IRS allows 2 card payments a year for current Form 1040 tax due and 2 per quarter for estimated tax, and tells payers of $1,000,000 or more through ACI Payments, or $10,000,000 or more through Link2Gov (the company the IRS lists behind Pay1040 in its e-file table), to coordinate with the provider. Direct Pay takes up to $10 million and costs nothing.
CSV · 86 rows
Paying the IRS by card after T.D. 10060: the rule, the Pay1040 and ACI Payments fees, the limits and the free routes
86 rows: the Federal Register final rule 91 FR 65980 with literal quotes, the IRS fee page of November 4, 2026 and two earlier captures, e-file fees, frequency and high-balance limits, Direct Pay, payment-plan fees, penalty and interest rates, and our arithmetic on three bill sizes.
What T.D. 10060 changed, and what it did not
The final rule, published in the Federal Register on October 19, 2026 (Volume 91, Number 200, pages 65980 to 65982) and effective the same day, amends Treasury Regulation 301.6311-2 under 26 U.S.C. 6311. It implements section 2303 of the Taxpayer First Act (Public Law 116-25, July 1, 2019). The proposal was published on July 2, 2024 (89 FR 54746); the Treasury Department and the IRS received eight comments and adopted the proposed text “with no change.”
Before the amendment, the IRS could not pay a fee under a card contract and could not charge one. The preamble says “Existing Sec. 301.6311-2(e) prohibits the IRS from imposing any fee or charge on persons making payment of taxes by credit card or debit card.” After it, there are two kinds of contract:
| Question | Contract with no IRS fee (paragraph (e)(2)) | Contract where the IRS pays a fee (paragraph (e)(3)) |
|---|---|---|
| Who is paid? | The processor or card network charges the payer; the IRS pays nothing | The IRS pays the processor, then charges the payer |
| What the payer pays | Fees charged by issuers, banks or others in the card transaction | A reimbursement fee “limited to the amount of the fees that IRS pays” |
| Does the IRS keep any of it? | No: “The IRS may not receive any part of any such fees” | No: the fee only recoups what the IRS paid |
| When is it paid? | With the card payment | “At the time of, and in addition to, the tax payment” |
| Is it a tax, and can it be refunded? | Not stated for these fees | Not a tax imposed by the Code; no refund or credit under section 6402 |
| Card-account errors | Error resolution under the Truth in Lending Act (15 U.S.C. 1666) or the Electronic Fund Transfer Act (15 U.S.C. 1693f) | Same, and it covers the reimbursement fee; it does not cover disputes about the tax itself |
Source: 26 CFR 301.6311-2(d)(1), (e)(2) and (e)(3) as amended by T.D. 10060, 91 FR 65980. The “Who is paid?” row and the paragraph (e)(2) cells in the tax and refund row are our reading.
What the rule does not do is as important. It sets no fee. The preamble answers a commenter who wanted a better fee model by saying the concern is “outside the scope of these regulations, which do not actually implement any particular payment process or contract.” And it describes today's market in one sentence in its Regulatory Flexibility Act analysis: “persons choosing to pay tax by credit or debit card are ordinarily required to pay processing fees to a third-party processor.” One commenter asked that no fee apply at all; the final text keeps the IRS's discretion to pay a fee as long as it is fully recouped.
So for a reader with a bill to pay this month, the practical answer is that the price is the processors' price. The first question a future channel raises, how large the reimbursement fee will be, has no answer in the rule: the only limits are that it equals what the IRS pays and that the Commissioner will try to minimize it (our reading).
The fees on the IRS page today, and the same fees in 2025
The IRS page “Pay taxes by card or digital wallet,” last reviewed or updated October 22, 2026, lists the two processors and these fees:
| Card type | Pay1040 | ACI Payments | Same on April 15, 2025 and July 26, 2026? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer debit card | $2.15 flat | $2.10 flat | Yes |
| Credit card | 1.75%, $2.50 minimum | 1.85%, $2.50 minimum | Yes |
| Commercial card | 2.89%, $2.50 minimum | 2.95%, $2.50 minimum | Yes |
| Fee goes to the IRS? | No part of it | No part of it | Stated on the page |
| Cards listed | Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express and others | Visa, Mastercard, American Express and others | Not compared |
Source: IRS page “Pay taxes by card or digital wallet,” read November 4, 2026; Internet Archive captures of the IRS card-payment page of April 15, 2025 (page updated February 12, 2025) and July 26, 2026. The IRS calls ACI's third column “corporate credit or debit card” in the earlier captures.
Two things changed on the page between July 26 and November 4, 2026, and neither is a price. The July capture carried a sample fee table (a $10,000 payment cost $175.00 by credit card at Pay1040 and $185.00 at ACI Payments) and the line “For card payments of $100,000 or more special requirements may apply.” The November 4 text contains neither. The IRS “Making high balance payments” page is still live and says what the requirement is: “High-dollar payments must be coordinated with the service provider,” with the threshold at $1,000,000 for ACI Payments and $10,000,000 for Link2Gov LLC. We could not tell from the IRS pages whether payments between $100,000 and those thresholds still carry a requirement; the older line suggests the IRS once thought so (not verified).
A second set of fees applies if you pay inside tax software when you e-file. The IRS lists them separately: TurboTax through Link2Gov is 2.49% with a $3.95 minimum, TaxAct, Drake and several others 2.59% with a $2.99 minimum, H&R Block 2.49% with a $2.59 minimum, FreeTaxUSA through ACI Payments 2.50% and SPAN through ACI Payments 2.95%. On $250,000 the 2.49% rate would be $6,225 and the 2.59% rate $6,475 (our arithmetic). The processors on the main page are cheaper for a credit card.
What the fee costs on a $50,000, $250,000 and $1,000,000 bill (our arithmetic)
The percentage fees have only a $2.50 minimum, and the IRS pages we read show no maximum, so the cost scales with the bill. Each figure below is the balance multiplied by the rate on the IRS page.
| Balance paid by card | Pay1040 credit card, 1.75% | ACI credit card, 1.85% | Pay1040 commercial, 2.89% | ACI commercial, 2.95% |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $50,000 | $875 | $925 | $1,445 | $1,475 |
| $250,000 | $4,375 | $4,625 | $7,225 | $7,375 |
| $1,000,000 | $17,500 | $18,500 | $28,900 | $29,500 |
Source: our arithmetic from the rates on the IRS page “Pay taxes by card or digital wallet,” November 4, 2026. A payment of $1,000,000 or more through ACI Payments must be coordinated with the provider (IRS “Making high balance payments”), so the last two cells are what the published rate implies, not a quote.
A consumer debit card is the exception: the IRS shows a flat $2.15 (Pay1040) or $2.10 (ACI Payments) whatever the payment, so on $250,000 the published fee would be $2.15 or $2.10 (our arithmetic). What a bank or debit card will actually let you spend in a day is not in IRS documents, and the IRS fee page gives no dollar limit for debit cards.
The IRS does state that “Card processing fees are tax deductible for businesses.” It does not say whether an individual can deduct the fee; that is a question for the return preparer (our reading).
The comparison most pages skip: the fee against a month of owing (our arithmetic)
A card payment is a way to stop two meters. The failure-to-pay penalty is “0.5% of the unpaid taxes for each month or part of a month,” capped at 25%; it falls to 0.25% a month for an individual who filed on time and has an approved payment plan, and rises to 1% a month 10 days after a notice of intent to levy. Interest on underpayments is 7% a year for the fourth quarter of 2026 (IRS quarterly interest rates page, Internal Revenue Bulletin 2026-36). On a $250,000 balance, treating interest as simple:
| Cost of leaving $250,000 unpaid | Per month | Months that equal the $4,375 fee at 1.75% |
|---|---|---|
| Failure-to-pay penalty at 0.5% | $1,250 | 3.5 |
| Interest at 7% a year | $1,458 | 3.0 |
| Penalty plus interest, no plan | $2,708 | 1.6 |
| Penalty at 0.25% plus interest, inside an approved plan | $2,083 | 2.1 |
Source: our arithmetic from the IRS failure-to-pay penalty page and quarterly interest rates page. The IRS compounds interest daily and charges the penalty for “each month or part of a month,” so a payment one day late costs a full month of penalty. We ignore the penalty cap and any waiver.
Read it two ways. If the choice is a card against leaving the balance with the IRS for a quarter, the 1.75% fee is smaller than the penalty and interest for about 1.6 months, so a card is cheaper than owing for longer than that, before counting what the card itself charges (our arithmetic). If the choice is a card against a bank payment on the due date, the fee is a pure cost, because the free routes below stop the meters too. The unknown is the cost of the card balance, which depends on your agreement and is not in any IRS document.
Rewards: where the fee breaks even
The fee is netted against whatever your card earns on the payment. If it earned 1% on a $250,000 tax payment, the net cost at 1.75% would be $1,875; at 1.5% it would be $625; at 2% the card would return $625 (our arithmetic). At ACI's 1.85% each figure is $250 worse; at the 2.89% commercial rate a 2% card still loses $2,225. Whether an issuer pays rewards on tax payments, caps them or treats them as cash advances is in the card agreement, not in the IRS pages or the rule. We did not check any issuer's terms.
The limits that bite on a large payment
The IRS limits how often you can use a card for each type of payment. From its frequency table, read November 4, 2026:
| Payment | Card payments allowed |
|---|---|
| Form 1040, current tax due | 2 per year |
| Form 1040, prior tax year | 2 per year |
| Form 1040-ES, estimated tax | 2 per quarter |
| Form 1040-X, amended return | 2 per year |
| Form 4868, extension to file | 2 per year |
| Individual installment agreement | 2 per month |
| Federal tax deposits | No card or cash payments |
Source: IRS “Frequency limit table by type of tax payment,” read November 4, 2026.
Two payments a year for a current balance means a bill can be split across two cards at most (our reading), and a large estimated payment has two chances a quarter. Pay1040 and ACI Payments do not accept every network: the IRS lists Discover for Pay1040 but not for ACI Payments on the November 4 page.
The routes with no card fee
| Route | IRS fee | What the IRS page says |
|---|---|---|
| Direct Pay from a bank account | None | “Free and secure”; a payment “can’t exceed $10 million,” above which the IRS points to EFTPS or a same-day wire |
| Pay in full today (bank, EFTPS, check or card) | $0 setup; card fees apply | “No future penalties or interest” |
| Short-term plan, 180 days or less | $0 setup | Online for individuals only; penalties and interest accrue until paid |
| Long-term plan with Direct Debit | $29 online, $107 by phone, mail or in person | Plus accrued penalties and interest; low-income taxpayers have the fee waived |
| Long-term plan, other payment method | $69 online, $178 by phone, mail or in person | Plus accrued penalties and interest; card payments carry processor fees |
Source: IRS Direct Pay page and IRS “Payment plans; installment agreements” page (fees updated March 3, 2026), read November 4, 2026.
A payment plan is not interest-free; the page says “Plus accrued penalties and interest until the balance is paid in full.” A plan also has a built-in saving: the penalty rate is 0.25% a month for an on-time individual filer. What a plan does not remove is the card fee: the IRS notes that processing fees apply on card payments toward a plan and that limits apply.
What we could not verify
- Whether and when the IRS will take cards directly. The rule allows it. We found no announcement, contract or fee amount in the IRS pages we read. The fee page of November 4, 2026 still says the payment goes through an IRS-approved third-party processor.
- The size of a future reimbursement fee. The rule fixes the principle (what the IRS pays, recouped) and not the number.
- Card-issuer treatment of tax payments. Rewards, limits and cash-advance rules are in each card agreement.
- Anything between a $100,000 payment and the $1,000,000 ACI threshold. The July 2026 IRS page mentioned “special requirements” at $100,000 and the November text does not.
What a reader can do with this
- Write down the three numbers first: the balance, the due date and the date you can pay from a bank account. The fee table above is only useful against those.
- Price the fee on your own bill. On the IRS page read on November 4, 2026, the fee for a credit card is 1.75% through Pay1040 and 1.85% through ACI Payments, with a $2.50 minimum; multiply it by your balance and compare it with the months of penalty and interest in the table above.
- Check the limits before you plan a split. Two card payments a year for current tax due and two per quarter for estimated tax are IRS limits.
- Check the card side. Whether your issuer pays rewards on tax payments, and whether a payment of this size posts at all, is in your agreement.
- Read the cost of owing, not only the fee. Our pages on the Form 2210 underpayment penalty and on estimated tax payments on K-1 income set out the other penalty clocks. If the bill comes from a rental sale, see installment sale treatment, the net investment income tax and capital gains tax on real estate.
What to ask your CPA
- What is the exact balance, and by what date does each penalty stop if I pay by card, by Direct Pay or under a plan?
- Is the card fee deductible against my income, or only for a business?
- Would a short-term plan or a long-term plan cost less than the card fee on my balance?
- Do I need to pay the estimated tax for 2027 on the same card, and does the two-a-quarter limit matter?
This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice. The person who can say what you owe and how to pay it is a CPA or tax attorney with your return.
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Sources, read and saved on November 4, 2026: T.D. 10060, Regulations Regarding Payment of Tax by Commercially Acceptable Means, 91 FR 65980 (October 19, 2026), FR Doc 2026-21267, federalregister.gov; IRS pages “Pay taxes by card or digital wallet” (updated October 22, 2026), “Frequency limit table by type of tax payment,” “Making high balance payments,” “Pay by debit or credit card when you e-file,” “Direct Pay,” “Payment plans; installment agreements,” “Failure to pay penalty” and “Quarterly interest rates” (Internal Revenue Bulletin 2026-36); Internet Archive captures of the IRS card-payment page of April 15, 2025 and July 26, 2026. Calculations marked “our arithmetic” are ours. This is analysis of public documents, not investment, legal or tax advice.
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