MCC 5723 is the merchant category code that major card networks use to identify firearms and ammunition retailers. The International Organization for Standardization approved it in 2022, separating gun stores from the broader “sporting goods” bucket (MCC 5941) that had covered them for decades. Whether a given firearms dealer is coded under 5723 today depends on the state, the card network, and the acquiring bank.
Which Businesses the Code Covers
MCC 5723 is designed for merchants whose primary revenue comes from selling firearms and ammunition. That includes brick-and-mortar gun stores, dealers operating at gun shows, and online retailers whose core business is guns and related merchandise.
A sporting goods chain that sells some firearms alongside a wider product line usually will not get MCC 5723, because the code follows the highest-volume category. Visa’s rules state the MCC must reflect the merchant’s primary business type measured by annual revenue. A merchant with more than one line of business either takes the code for its biggest category or sets up separate merchant accounts for each line.1Visa. Visa Merchant Data Standards Manual
So a dealer whose accessory and apparel sales outweigh gun sales could legitimately end up under a different code. The test is revenue mix, not the presence of firearms on the shelves.
Where MCC 5723 Is Required, and Where It Is Banned
Adoption is not uniform. As of October 2025, Visa’s merchant data standards require acquirers to assign MCC 5723 to firearms retailers in California, Colorado, and New York.1Visa. Visa Merchant Data Standards Manual In those states, a dealer’s payment processor has no discretion to use a different code.
A growing number of other states have moved the opposite direction, passing or introducing laws that prohibit financial institutions from assigning a firearms-specific MCC or from using MCC data to discriminate against lawful gun businesses. The practical result is a patchwork. A chain operating across state lines can be coded 5723 at one location and 5941 at another. If you run a multi-state operation, confirm the applicable code with your processor for each location, and treat it as an ongoing compliance item rather than a one-time setup.
Who Assigns the Code
The merchant does not pick its own MCC. The acquiring bank or payment processor assigns it, and Visa retains the right to require corrections when the code is wrong or inconsistent with what the business actually does.1Visa. Visa Merchant Data Standards Manual
If you believe your business has been miscoded, the conversation starts with your acquirer. Each physical location and each e-commerce site is evaluated independently, so a chain with a retail store and an online shop may carry different MCCs if the product mix differs between them.
Effect on Processing Costs
Merchants don’t pay interchange directly. You pay a merchant discount to your acquiring bank, which bundles interchange with the acquirer’s markup and network assessments. Visa’s own interchange documentation draws this distinction explicitly.2Visa. Visa USA Interchange Reimbursement Fees
The MCC does influence which interchange tier a transaction falls into, and interchange is usually the largest piece of the merchant discount. But neither Visa nor Mastercard publishes a special reduced-rate program tied to firearms retail the way they do for supermarkets or utilities.2Visa. Visa USA Interchange Reimbursement Fees3Mastercard. U.S. Region Interchange Programs and Rates Firearms dealers generally sit in standard retail interchange tiers. Whether MCC 5723 lands a specific transaction in a better or worse tier than it would have under 5941 depends on the particular network program, and most dealers see no dramatic shift in processing cost from the reclassification itself.
What Cardholders See on Their Statements
For consumers, the MCC rides along invisibly. Your statement shows the merchant name and amount, but your issuer uses the MCC in the background to sort spending into categories, which drives bonus cash back and reward multipliers.
The move from 5941 to 5723 can change rewards. Some cards offer enhanced cash back at sporting goods merchants, a category that historically swept in gun stores coded 5941. Under 5723, those same purchases may stop qualifying because the issuer’s rewards engine sees a different category. Card issuers rarely publish the internal mapping in full detail. If your rewards on a familiar firearms retailer suddenly look different, an MCC reclassification is the likely cause.
Tax Reporting
Payment settlement entities report gross transaction amounts to the IRS on Form 1099-K. For traditional credit and debit card processing there is no minimum dollar threshold: the processor reports every dollar that flows through the merchant account. The $20,000 and 200-transaction threshold that gets so much attention applies only to third-party settlement organizations like payment apps, not to standard card processing.4Internal Revenue Service. Understanding Your Form 1099-K
The MCC appears on the 1099-K alongside the merchant’s identifying information. By itself, MCC 5723 does not create any new IRS reporting obligation beyond what applies to any other retail code. What it does change is visibility: a firearms-specific code makes gun-related revenue easier for financial institutions and regulators to identify in aggregate, which is a large part of why the code is contested.
Why the Code Is Politically Contested
MCC 5723 has drawn more political attention than almost any other merchant code. Supporters argue a dedicated firearms classification could help financial institutions flag unusual purchasing patterns, similar in logic to existing suspicious-activity reporting for large cash transactions, and that distinguishing gun stores from sporting goods stores is a categorization improvement no different from the hundreds of other industry-specific MCCs in use.
Opponents argue that creating a code specifically to track lawful firearms purchases amounts to financial surveillance of constitutionally protected activity, and that the data could eventually be shared with law enforcement or used to pressure banks to restrict firearms-related accounts. They point to documented cases of financial institutions closing accounts of licensed firearms dealers under broader “reputational risk” policies.
Those competing views have produced the state-by-state patchwork described above. For a dealer, the operational takeaway is the same regardless of which side you agree with: the code that applies to your business depends on where you operate, who your acquirer is, and what the law in that state says this year.