ATO (tax office) payments by credit card

[JohnK]

And to think I paid $15,000 in tax today but didn't use a credit card.

So I missed out on 7,500 points on the visa but I have saved $97.20 in extra charges.

I don't think that 7,500 points is worth the $97.20

Really?

I wish I had some of the tax bills mentioned in this thread as that would mean that I was making some money!

Anyway just paid my $611 instalment with Amex + $7.84 surcharge which should earn me ~1,393 QFF points valued ~$35.

Now I would not normally go out and purchase FF points but ~1,393 QFF points for $7.84 is a bargain.

 

[burmans]

I appreciate that the ATO's deductibility guidelines do have some other scenarios where the fee may be deductible for some taxpayers, but if you are a normal wage and salary earner paying your tax on a credit card to rack up some points , the ATO's fee aint a tax deduction .
NC

Agree, luckily in my case I am paying business expense which virtually by definition means it is deductable. Even if you borrow to pay tax for a business the interest is generally deductable (and hence under normal tax principles the CPF will be deductable).

Am reminded yet again of the advantage of being a "business". If the company pays PAYG (effectively pre-paying my individual tax bill) interest and hence CPF is deductable, if it doesn't and I have to pay it it isn't. Would almost be worth putting in a variation, paying too much and getting a refund! Not that I am paying interest because I pay my bill off each month but the point remains.

 

[Deleted User]

Agree, luckily in my case I am paying business expense which virtually by definition means it is deductable. Even if you borrow to pay tax for a business the interest is generally deductable (and hence under normal tax principles the CPF will be deductable).

Am reminded yet again of the advantage of being a "business". If the company pays PAYG (effectively pre-paying my individual tax bill) interest and hence CPF is deductable, if it doesn't and I have to pay it it isn't. Would almost be worth putting in a variation, paying too much and getting a refund! Not that I am paying interest because I pay my bill off each month but the point remains.

All good points, I also make payments from having an Australian Business Registration so I also believe that these CPF's are deductable. Currently paying PAYG & GST and in my case, all payments are driven from my "business" activities

 

[FuzzyAUS]

I have been trying for years to convert my friend into the advantages of frequent flyer points, but he is not interested. So, being the nice guy I am, I recently paid his $60K BAS bill for him on my credit card. Its nice to be nice

So who paid the credit card fee then ?

 

[Maca44]

So who paid the credit card fee then ?

I did, but thought it was good value for the points earned.

 

[FuzzyAUS]

They are a pretty cheap source of points, especially as I use most of my points for domestic JASA's..

As other posters have said, you don't want to have to pay tax, but this does make it a little better.

 

[angusburns]

I am a bit confused about domestic JASA's - they do not appear to be good value.

I was looking at Sydney-Canberra return on various days over the next 12 months and every day I looked at had the return trip at $774 or 95,491 FF points using points + pay.
Or $401.38 + 49,452 FF points around midway on the slider.

A straight classic away FF seat is only 32,000 points return - same flights were available - QF787 up and QF704 back.

Was using Sunday 15 January 2012 as guessed Parliament was not in session?!...

What am I missing? Have I just picked a bad route - are there JASA's available for almost Classic Award points on other routes?

Confused!

TIA...

Angus

 

[cove]

Hello angusburns,
You need to go to award bookings and click on Any Seat section where you will see that flight at a straight 22528 points each way.
You can get drastically ripped if you do points plus pay so get out of that wrong section.
I would not go J unless I needed to rub shoulders with someone special on a flight from Sydney to Canberra and to be frank politicians are not special.

 

[angusburns]

Thank you - I only selected Sydney-Canberra business return as I was reading about people doing SC runs and was looking to see how it worked and also for the quickest way to get maximum SC in case I am short a few before my anniversary - I am guessing Sydney-Canberra business return would be the shortest/quickest/cheapest way for a Sydney person to earn SC points.

I had thought you had to do points + pay to get SC but from your reply, it seems a standard Any Seat Reward will do.

Thanks again.

 

[angusburns]

Q: Would SYD-CBR-MEL-CBR-SYD in business earn 4x 40 = 160 SC?

ie is each leg treated as one separate flight or do they call it SYD-MEL return?

TIA!

 

[cove]

Yes 160 for that run in J.

 

[FuzzyAUS]

Not needing to do it this year, but so i can learn. How do you go about doing SYD-CBR-MEL.. is it a multicity? or seperate legs?

Thanks

 

[cove]

Each booked stop gets you Status Credits so a Run in J to Canberra and Melbourne from Sydney can get you 4 lots of 40 if you return the same way.
The first must get to in status is 4 flight sectors and 250 status credits to make Silver and get seat selection.
If you book everything in Classic points and never buy a ticket you will be getting computer selected seats.

 

[angusburns]

I think it is 300 to qualify for Silver, 250 to retain in subsequent years. Plus the 4 flights on QF or equiv.

 

[cove]

Yes it is 300 to get Silver first up and 250 to keep it alive.
Be watchful of the 4 eligible flight sectors because you could have the SCs but not the sectors to qualify for dust rather than Silver.

 

[Ben174]

So i was all excited when i saw this thread and i have paid $20,000 of BAS on my CBA Gold Awards AMEX thinking i was gonna get a quick 20,000 QFF points for just $250 which was pretty good i thought!

However just having a read through thr T&C of the card, it says no award points earnt on Government Purchases?!?!?! Does this mean my $20,000 will be ignored for points earning when the new statement comes in? Or is this just one of those clauses they put there but dont really enforce? Anyone had any experience with the CBA Card?

 

[angusburns]

I have paid bigger ATO bills with Westpac and Citibank and, I think, NAB.

None of them has complained thus far but obviously I don't know about CBA.

How can they tell if your ATO payment is BAS of a Business or a personal taxpayer PAYG payment?

Anyway, I guess you will find out soon enough... you might want to post back here when you find out to benefit other CBA card holders...

 

[cove]

CBA AMEX should be fine for those points.
You would be better off if you had a point and a half Amex card as that would get you an extra 10,000 points.
The Qantas site has listed credit cards and the rewards for each of them

 

[Ben174]

Thanks Cove Fingers crossed.

Im thinking of upgrading to Platinum for that extra 50% of points on AMEX and also the 12 month travel insurance, or maybe even Diamond if they do it for the Platinum Fee (not gonna hold my breath) as i think ill be putting through about 220k of BAS and PAYG before the income tax hits so maybe worth it

 

[cove]

I have a Tax Bill due tomorrow that will produce a bit over 75k in points and seeing this one is deemed tax deductible the real cost per point in this case will drop from 0.833 cents to 0.583 cents.