FREE CONSULTATION
Picture of Rachel Barnett

Rachel Barnett

PCI Compliance – What Small Businesses Need to Know

Have you ever received an email from QuickBooks stating you need to be PCI compliant?
 
It can look scary but for most small businesses these days it’s not a big deal.

What is PCI Compliance?

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance refers to the technical and operational standards that businesses must follow to ensure that credit card data provided by cardholders is protected.

These standards were developed by the  PCI Security Standards Council, which was founded by American Express, Discover Financial Services, JCB International, MasterCard Worldwide, and Visa Inc.

For more information on PCI Compliance, including a list of the 12 key requirements, check out this detailed article from Forbes: What Is PCI Compliance? Everything You Need To Know

Do I Need to be PCI Compliant?

Payment cards like Visa, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover require PCI compliance every year.

If your business accepts, stores, or transmits payment card data, you have to be PCI compliant.

How Do I Become PCI Compliant?

The easiest way to become PCI compliant is don’t collect/store credit card numbers yourself. There are plenty of options for collecting payment that handle it all for you, including PCI compliance. These include QB Payments, PayPal, Stripe, Square, Shopify Payments, Google/Apple Pay, etc. 

Any payment processor should have compliance documents you can look over to verify they’re PCI compliant. Here are the PCI compliance documents for QuickBooks Payments and Quickbooks Point of Sale.

If you’re using a PCI compliant payment processor and not collecting/storing credit card information you should be good.

If you have any questions about PCI compliance you can contact the PCI Standards Security Council.

Share Now

This content is for information purposes only and should not be considered legal, accounting, or tax advice, or a substitute for obtaining such advice specific to your business. Additional information and exceptions may apply. Applicable laws may vary by state or locality. No assurance is given that the information is comprehensive in its coverage or that it is suitable in dealing with a customer’s particular situation. Gentle Frog, LLC does not have any responsibility for updating or revising any information presented herein. Accordingly, the information provided should not be relied upon as a substitute for independent research. Gentle Frog, LLC does not warrant that the material contained herein will continue to be accurate, nor that it is completely free of errors when published. Readers and viewers should verify statements before relying on them.

One Response

  1. Fantastic breakdown of PCI compliance for small businesses! Your clear explanations and practical tips make it easy for owners like me to understand and take action. Thanks for simplifying a complex topic!

Read similar articles

Why Being More Available Won’t Increase Your Revenue (And What Will)

Think being always available helps your business grow? Think again. Learn why working less can lead to more focus and more revenue.

How to Convert Bank Statements, OFX, QIF, and QFX Files to PDF, CSV, Excel, and QuickBooks Formats

Learn FinanceFileConverter.com can help you convert OF, QIF and QFX files into useable data.

Where Do We Get Our Ideas? (Hint: They Often Come From You!)

Learn how Gentle Frog turns real bookkeeping questions into helpful QuickBooks tutorials, blog posts, and videos for small business owners.