App_fee_money with Terminal API for Japan (JP) sellers in 2026

Questions
,
1

Is app_fee_money supported with the Terminal API (CreateTerminalCheckout)
for sellers located in Japan (JP)?

A forum reply from 2024-07 stated that collecting app_fee_money with the
Terminal API was not supported outside of the US at that time, and there
was a 2023 case where an AU seller received INVALID_LOCATION
(“app_fee_money is not supported in the merchant’s location”).

The “Collect Application Fees” documentation lists a JPY threshold (¥600),
but does not state whether the Terminal API is included for JP.

  1. Is it supported for JP in 2026?
  2. If yes, does the developer account need any specific activation or
    approval to receive application fees from JP sellers?
  3. If no, is there a supported way for a platform to collect a fee on
    in-person card payments in Japan?

Thanks.

3

It should be allowed, but I would recommend testing a simple case in sandbox or production to verify before a larger build out.

There’s no technical enablement step, but in Japan, Square may review how app fees are used. Fees should pay for your application’s service, not take a recurring cut of the seller’s sales. These are the requirements:

  • The fee has to be collected by a Square account based in Japan, and the fee currency must be JPY to match the seller. A US/USD developer account can’t collect fees from JP sellers, so you’d need a JP Square account and use its application ID for JP sellers (International Development).
  • Both your JP account and the seller’s account must be able to process card payments.
  • Sellers must authorize your app through OAuth with PAYMENTS_WRITE_ADDITIONAL_RECIPIENTS. If you add that scope later, sellers have to re-authorize. You can check this with GET /oauth2/token/status (Collect Application Fees).
5

Thank you, that’s very helpful.

Could you clarify what would be considered acceptable use in Japan?

Our model: we provide a full restaurant system (self-order kiosk, POS,
kitchen display, attendance, cost management) to merchants with no monthly
charge. Instead, we charge a system usage fee on each transaction that is
processed through our system. Merchants can alternatively choose a flat
monthly plan.

The fee applies only to transactions processed through our application —
not to the merchant’s sales in general.

Would this be considered “paying for the application’s service”?
Or would the per-transaction structure itself be a concern, regardless of
the service provided?