ATO (tax office) payments by credit card

[Duffa]

Yes, welcome Chimp, this is probably the only place you will ever hear about people being happy about paying tax

Welcome!
My accountant thinks I need therapy. I email every quarter eagerly asking "when is next BAS due?"
Question for you.
Any tips for my London based friend to maximize points?
Has a 200k plus income but almost no points.

Mods. Feel free to move this.

 

[Flashback]

Welcome!
My accountant thinks I need therapy. I email every quarter eagerly asking "when is next BAS due?"
Question for you.
Many tips for my London based friend to maximize points?
Has a 200k plus income but almost no points.

Mods. Feel free to move this.

Two words... 3V cards.

 

[Flashback]

Two words... 3V cards.

2 more words .. good luck

 

[Duffa]

Two words... 3V cards.

Thanks for your advice
Happy to be a fool for five minutes. Can find 3V but can't see how to buy them on cc or turn into points.
What about straight cc and which programme BA or Virgin?

 

[Flashback]

Thanks for your advice
Happy to be a fool for five minutes. Can find 3V but can't see how to buy them on cc or turn into points.
What about straight cc and which programme BA or Virgin?

I like the AMEX Gold charge card, free for first year and 2x MR on supermarkets, travel, etc. Just churned one for myself the other day. Happy to provide a referral if required. 22k bonus for opening.

That then gives you a choice of how to use your points.

 

[cove]

Talking about therapy it has been mentioned by my wife that I have become obsessed with paying endless taxes on credit cards of choice every month and always using points to fly everywhere.
Well it is our fortieth wedding anniversary in about a week so I paid real cash for the flights to Sydney and did a booking at The Quay restaurant to show I can still be almost normal. Naturally Mrscove is quite shocked so it was worth it just for her reaction.
I think I may have delayed the arrival of the white coated folk for a little while.

Back on credit cards I did leave two credit cards maxed out with ATO payments seeing there were quite a few free days on offer.

 

[Chimp]

Thanks for your advice
Happy to be a fool for five minutes. Can find 3V but can't see how to buy them on cc or turn into points.
What about straight cc and which programme BA or Virgin?

BA Premium Plus is good (mainly for 2-4-1 voucher after 10k spend, used in BA metal) - happy to provide a referral. (current referral bonus is 26,000 avios, but this often goes to 40k during promos)
Also I have a BMI Amex/Visa cards (also BA Avios) - 2miles/1miles per £, which also doubles up at BA and gets 10% off. Dont think you can get that anymore, but always worth asking MBNA! (especially as they improved the earn rate after BMI ceased to exist)

Lloyds Bank Premier Avios card always looks interesting - Amex is ok at 1.5, but MC is awful. However 2 upgrade tickets at 5k spend, and companion voucher at 12k.

If BA/Avios/OW isn't your thing, Virgin Black or Emirates might be worth exploring. Virgin miles can be used on some good airlines. Or you could get a United Mileage Plus card for *A.

Also Tesco Clubcard points can be converted to avios. And you get them from shopping in store, insurance, banking etc.

 

[DaveB]

My wife thinks the same and also very happy though using the benefits.
A bit extreme though actually paying for the tickets.
I went a different tack with our 30th next August, booked our first cruise going Silverseas for 10 nights around the Baltics. Citi Rewards were very handy.

 

[Buzzard]

Mrs B. thinks I'm possessed (obsessed?), mind you, no complaints flying to SYD in J today!

 

[FromTheRail]

Any tips for my London based friend to maximize points?
Has a 200k plus income but almost no points.

Mods. Feel free to move this.

BAPP until you reach £10k for the 2for1 voucher then onto Amex Gold for random extra points for no real reason (can still give referrals for both cards), I once got 8MR per £1 spent at a hotel!!! I would have been back more often but it was Gleneagles....

If your friend has a lot of spare time then go for 3v cards if already earning the wages you state he might not find it worthwhile. You buy 3v pre paid visa cards using your Amex, you can then use them in places that don't accept Amex or you can deposit them into a NS&I Direct Saver account, transfer out to your normal bank account and then pay off your Amex bill fee free. If you bought them in Tesco you will receive Clubcard points + bonus points that can then be converted to Avios.

Tell him to read Head for Points

Tesco Mastercard for those places that don't take Amex, can convert the Clubcard points to Virgin Adlantic or BA Avios.

I'm new to Oz, having been well into CC points accumulation back in Scotland - so please be kind.

Same here, have been looking to get back into points collecting, really should have done it sooner but have been a bit busy settling in. Have applied for a Amex but was refused due to being self employed and being here less than 2 years, even though I stated my UK Amex numbers in the application. Reading more into it I think Westpac Altitude Black will be more suitable and will be handy to pay off my approx 100k tax/gst bill when it comes in

 

[Flashback]

BAPP until you reach £10k for the 2for1 voucher then onto Amex Gold for random extra points for no real reason (can still give referrals for both cards), I once got 8MR per £1 spent at a hotel!!! I would have been back more often but it was Gleneagles....

If your friend has a lot of spare time then go for 3v cards if already earning the wages you state he might not find it worthwhile. You buy 3v pre paid visa cards using your Amex, you can then use them in places that don't accept Amex or you can deposit them into a NS&I Direct Saver account, transfer out to your normal bank account and then pay off your Amex bill fee free. If you bought them in Tesco you will receive Clubcard points + bonus points that can then be converted to Avios.

Tell him to read Head for Points

Tesco Mastercard for those places that don't take Amex, can convert the Clubcard points to Virgin Adlantic or BA Avios.




Same here, have been looking to get back into points collecting, really should have done it sooner but have been a bit busy settling in. Have applied for a Amex but was refused due to being self employed and being here less than 2 years, even though I stated my UK Amex numbers in the application. Reading more into it I think Westpac Altitude Black will be more suitable and will be handy to pay off my approx 100k tax/gst bill when it comes in

Call the global relocation team and point out that's what it is, not a brand new app and they will approve for you.

This assumes your UK account is still open..... If not then you can't use the GT route.

 

[FromTheRail]

Yes both cards are still open, will give them a call as I did like the look of the Platinum Edge Card for fuel and food shopping.

I was also on a web chat with Westpac about the Altitude Black earlier and they have said it will be fine but need to apply in a branch and not online.

 

[knasty]

BAPP until you reach £10k for the 2for1 voucher then onto Amex Gold for random extra points for no real reason

Any reason the MBNA AA Amex doesn't rate a mention? Can't see it recommended in many of the forums but 1.5 points/pound seems pretty good and a great burn rate. Have a friend who has just moved to UK.

 

[Flashback]

Any reason the MBNA AA Amex doesn't rate a mention? Can't see it recommended in many of the forums but 1.5 points/pound seems pretty good and a great burn rate. Have a friend who has just moved to UK.

I have that card as well, got it during the recent promo where I received 35k bonus miles for £5k spend. If wanting to earn miles only on AA then yes it's a decent option. Each card has their own valid use but all comes down to what your spend will be each year... I currently have AMEX Gold Charge, SPG AMEX, MBNA AA AMEX&Visa, BMI AMEX&Visa (2 per £1 on AMEX, 1 per £1 on Visa - unfortunately you can no longer get this card).

 

[New Chump]

Does anyone "Great Rate" their ATO payments on CBA cards? Seems like a great idea...pay big tax bill get 0.99% p.a. for 3 months "great rate" and then pay it right before next BAS/IAS is due. Makes the Amex surcharge seem even more tolerable. Thoughts/experience?

Yes, it works a treat.

I posted on it a while ago in this thread, see post 922:
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....fice-payments-credit-17109-93.html#post605051

CBA recently changed the terms so you can only have one Great Rate-d transaction at any time (and 6 maximum per year). If you are paying tax quarterly, it basically means you can only Great Rate two tax payments per year.

The ATO's 50k limit sucks here too, if you have larger tax instalments due, beacuse you can only Great Rate one 50k tax instalment.

Still, it is worth doing.

NC

 

[cove]

Provided you have enough credit card capacity you can just change the date of your monthly cycle so that your BAS and income taxes hit your cards into the new month by a day or two so you get many days of free carry on the interest free basis.Having it work this way will save you quite a bit over a year.
We get 12 monthly bills and about 10 quarterly bills so it is close to 52 tax bills a year.
If you can run $xx_,xx_ free for each month you can have a free smile.

 

[prozac]

Edit: Sorry, this has been dealt with already.

 

[cj0325]

Can anyone confirm that Westpac Black is still effective? Any other cards gone dead in the last 6 weeks?

 

[Cruiser Elite]

Can anyone confirm that Westpac Black is still effective? Any other cards gone dead in the last 6 weeks?

100% confirmed still effective.

 

[Pushka]

Westpac still works for me as does Woolies for some reason.