Merchant category code

MCCs are assigned either by merchant type (e.g., one for hotels, one for office supply stores, etc.) or by merchant name (e.g., 3000 for United Airlines[1]) and is assigned to a merchant by a credit card company when the business first starts accepting that card as a form of payment.[2] The same business may code differently with different credit cards, and different sections or departments of a store may code differently.[3]

An MCC reflects the primary category in which a merchant does business and may be used:

• to determine the interchange fee paid by the merchant, with riskier lines of business paying higher fees
• by credit card companies to offer cash back rewards or reward points, for spending in specific categories[4][5]
• by card networks to define rules and restrictions for card transactions (for example, Automated Fuel Dispensers (MCC 5542) have specific rules for authorization and clearing messages)
• for tax purposes, e.g., in the United States, to determine whether a payment is primarily for “services”, which needs to be reported by the payor to the Internal Revenue Service for tax purposes, or for “merchandise”, which does not[6]

There are multiple resources credit card users can consult to predict how credit card purchases with given vendors may be categorized. Examples include:

• "AwardWallet Merchant Lookup Tool". AwardWallet.
• "Chase Ink Bonus Categories Explained". WalletHub.
• "Visa Merchant Data Standards Manual" (PDF).
• "Visa Supplier Locator". Visa Supplier Locator.
• "List of MCC codes in CSV, ODS, XLS formats". github.
• "An ISO 18245 python library for MCCs". github.

• ISO 8583
• ISO 18245
• NAICS Code
• Standard Industrial Classification