ATO (tax office) payments by credit card

[Buzzard]

I have never overpaid mat tax

Maybe I need new glasses

 

[amaroo]

I'd agree that is possible but all indications are in fact that the ATO are very happy with cards as a payment method, they've in fact moved it to one of the "preferred" methods of payment.

Here's the link, this was put in place 18th November 2013, making BPAY/CC the preferred payment methods

https://www.ato.gov.au/Business/Payments-to-ATO/How-to-pay/

Abuse leads to change. The FF world is littered with examples of great ideas being shutdown. The question you need to ask; will the antidote that stops the greedy - end up killing the legitimate?

A casual glance thru AFF - suggests it will!

Such is life...

 

[burmans]

Abuse leads to change. The FF world is littered with examples of great ideas being shutdown. The question you need to ask; will the antidote that stops the greedy - end up killing the legitimate?

A casual glance thru AFF - suggests it will!

Such is life...

Yes, well I guess I don't see the antidote as being stopping stopping millions of CC payments because a few people seek refunds. I think you are way overestimating both the problem and the ATO desire to solve and considering very limited options as to how they do so. I guess time will tell who is right.

 

[legroom]

Yes, well I guess I don't see the antidote as being stopping stopping millions of CC payments because a few people seek refunds. I think you are way overestimating both the problem and the ATO desire to solve and considering very limited options as to how they do so. I guess time will tell who is right.

It all depends on whether the cat food guys or the $0.01 NAB fellows get into the act.

Most decent people, I hope, wouldn't want to cross the boundary between proper and improper usage.

But sometimes I'm known to be optimistic.

 

[Caversham04]

You're absolutely right, getting a J fare half price is not bad at all. However, I think you can do better!

You're also correct that points in most cases with the Velocity Escape card are free, but I had already factored that in to my calculations above. That's why I referred to the incremental cost for the additional 0.5 pts per $ that you get with Altitude Black, rather than the cost based on the total earn of 1.5 pts per $.

To look at it another way, based on the cost per point earned overall: if you take an annual spend of $94k as an example (the amount you'd have to spend on Velocity Escape to get 94,000 points for a J reward to LA), you'd earn 141,000 points with Altitude Black, at an overall cost of just 0.28c per point (excluding surcharges, but the surcharges would be the same with either card). Would you pay $395 for an extra 47,000 points? I know I would - since as you have illustrated yourself, that's equivalent to half a J trip to LA, which is worth $2,800! But as I said at the start, it depends on your spending level - obviously if it takes you 2 years to spend $94k, then the cost doubles, and so on.

Much appreciated - looks like I need to run some quick maths on the split of CC spend (most of my spend currently goes on a QFF-related card)..... but perhaps not after half-a-bottle of red, so that'll be a job for later in the weekend

 

[amaroo]

Yes, well I guess I don't see the antidote as being stopping stopping millions of CC payments because a few people seek refunds. I think you are way overestimating both the problem and the ATO desire to solve and considering very limited options as to how they do so. I guess time will tell who is right.

The thing with gaming/abuse - it's never the few!

 

[Pukka]

Yes, well I guess I don't see the antidote as being stopping stopping millions of CC payments because a few people seek refunds. I think you are way overestimating both the problem and the ATO desire to solve and considering very limited options as to how they do so. I guess time will tell who is right.

The ATO won't stop it, in this economic climate they're happy to pass the debt onto credit card companies so they're winners in this game. As usual it will be the cc companies that knock it on the head as ultimately they're the ones losing out.

 

[Hammando]

IMHO points for tax payments are far more likely to come to an end due to people using personal credit cards to pay company taxes.

Often these tax payments are many many many times the normal credit card spend of an individual and probably part of the reason citi have already cut and Amex limited points for tax payments.

Good luck to those that do it, I know I would if I was in that position.

Good luck to people if they want to "accidentally" overpay their tax. I won't be doing it because without the tax deduction for me the points become too expensive. I'd also prefer to stay off the ATO's radar.

 

[sumthinfornuthin]

Sorry, but do you have a reason to send money to the tax department other than because tax law requires it?

if the answer to this is no (and can't imagine why it would be) then the "rules" for overpaying tax and gaining refunds are totally defined by tax law, what are you suggesting they are defined by, uninformed opinion?

the BAS return IAS on turnover requires one to estimate the % of turnover/sales that PAYG should be paid on. one can be fined for grossly underestimating the correct amount of tax, better to be conservative and cautious and if one overpays substantially on the last quarter and lodge a prompt tax return..then well ??????

 

[burmans]

The ATO won't stop it, in this economic climate they're happy to pass the debt onto credit card companies so they're winners in this game. As usual it will be the cc companies that knock it on the head as ultimately they're the ones losing out.

agree with this, indeed it's essentially what we have seen to date.

 

[Beta4Me]

I have a Citiselect Visa with direct earn to QF and I do earn 1:1 with it (guaranteed)

Awesome. Now I'd suggest that post disappeared...

 

[Pushka]

I think there's a risk maybe that the ATO may hold the over paid funds and say they will put them towards a future tax liability.

 

[cove]

I was thinking they might pay the funds back to the credit card to stop serial over payers or give that taxpayer an audit visit.

 

[Pushka]

I was thinking they might pay the funds back to the credit card to stop serial over payers or give that taxpayer an audit visit.

That makes sense too.

I'm not into raising flags with the ATO. Regular over payment may just be one.

 

[Jack_OC]

I think there's a risk maybe that the ATO may hold the over paid funds and say they will put them towards a future tax liability.

I don't think they have the power to do that. They also have no way of knowing if you will ever have a future tax liability.

I was thinking they might pay the funds back to the credit card to stop serial over payers or give that taxpayer an audit visit.

I'd agree it's plausible the ATO could do either or both of those things (if they are bothered by this - but's that's a big if). However, even if they did, that wouldn't affect anyone else.

The reality is, the ATO pays out a massive number of refunds each year. Most "normal" taxpayers get one every time they file a tax return. Many people paying by instalments get refunds often too, as the ATO's own guidance makes it clear that you can be penalised if you underpay, but not if you overpay. As others have pointed out, the entire system is designed so that most people get a refund every year. This leads me to two conclusions: (1) the ATO is not at all concerned about the workload related to issuing refunds and (2) it's likely that only a tiny proportion of refunds result from deliberate overpayment to maximise FF points earn, so this is highly unlikely to be something that will worry the ATO.

As I said before, more credit card companies might decide to end this, but if so that decision could have nothing to do with people paying more than they owe the ATO, as the credit card providers don't know if that's happening or not. If anything, it would simply be due to the total amounts being paid, so if people are concerned about this, they'd be better focussing their attention on those paying very large amounts, and especially business rather than personal tax bills.

 

[Pushka]

They do have that power. Every quarter we pay estimated company tax. Individuals are levied Provisional tax as are contractors. That money is held over until eofy reconciles.

 

[Jack_OC]

They do have that power. Every quarter we pay estimated company tax. Individuals are levied Provisional tax as are contractors. That money is held over until eofy reconciles.

I know, but that's completely different to holding back what is known to be an overpayment against a future tax liability.

PS- my comment seems to have got a bit garbled in your quote.

 

[Pushka]

I know, but that's completely different to holding back what is known to be an overpayment against a future tax liability.

PS- my comment seems to have got a bit garbled in your quote.

Yes. Sorry about that. Using the app. Might delete it and just leave mine.

 

[Deleted User]

The ato gets their money, optus who provide the payment portal get their cut, the credit card get their share too......

If the card company are not happy then just increase the surcharge.....

 

[cove]

Our business MasterCard and Visa rate we pay has surged to 1.17% including GST from 0.87% due to points paying credit cards being used thru our CC machine from 01/05/2014.