MCC 4900: Utilities – Electric, Gas, Water, and Sanitary
Visa Merchant Data Standards Manual (April 2026), Section 2: Merchant Category Code Listing, PDF page 57. Checked 2026-10-15.
What MCC 4900 means
The Visa manual describes it this way:
Merchants classified with this MCC provide the ongoing generation, transmission, and/or distribution of electric or gas power or other utility services. This MCC also includes Merchants that provide water supply system services and Merchants primarily engaged in the collection and disposal of refuse.
How an MCC is assigned
Visa says the Merchant Category Code is a four-digit number assigned to describe a merchant's primary business based on annual sales volume, and that acquirers and their agents must assign the correct MCC to each merchant.
If a merchant has more than one line of business, Visa's rules say it must either use the MCC for the business with the highest sales volume or use different MCCs for each line of business. "Miscellaneous" codes, usually ending in 99, are for businesses with no more specific MCC.
On the tax side, the IRS asks for a payee's MCC in Box 2 of Form 1099-K and tells filers to use the code that most closely matches the payee's business.
Source:Visa Merchant Data Standards Manual,IRS Instructions for Form 1099-K.
Your processor or merchant account provider assigns your code when you apply. If you think the wrong code was assigned, ask them to review it.
Nearby codes
- 4821: Telegraph Services
- 4829: Money Transfer
- 4899: Cable, Satellite and Other Pay Television/Radio/Streaming
- 5013: Motor Vehicle Supplies and New Parts
- 5021: Office and Commercial Furnitu re
- 5039: Construction Materials (Not Elsewhere Classified)