ATO (tax office) payments by credit card

[vilemerchant]

I am not sure either. I think I will need to talk to my accountant. I am definitely entitled to the $900 bonus (I only had ~$10,000 taxable income last year) but I am behind in completing the tax returns.

That 10K could be your problem john, the tax-free threshold plus the low-income tax offset is now so high that you effectively need to earn about 14K+ to actually have paid net tax by the time you settle up with the ATO. If you only earned 10K you'll get ALL your tax back and won't be considered a net tax-payer.

 

[cove]

Just remember to divide your tax payments by $900 to work out how many KEV09's you have supported this year remembering that Australia will sink $50 billion into debt as well.

The Tax Office fee is 0.67% limited to $10,000 and includes no gst.The fee would be tax deductible if you pay a BAS but less likely if you pay a personal tax bill.

Now if you are vying to be treated as special those points could get you up the pointy end of the plane so I really can see why you would put up to $10,000 on your Visa or Mastercard just for that little bit of satisfaction.

Paying Telstra on my AMEX Ultimate at 1.5 points a dollar and Qantas at 2.5 points per dollar is a better deal especially if those bills are tax deductible so their processing fee is tax deductible and you get the gst back out of the charge.

Happy flying all you special frequent flyers !

 

[JohnK]

Go and see your accountant and get your tax return done. I think you have until 30 June 2009 to lodge them to still get the $900.

No problem getting 2007-2008 done but working/living in Brisbane I do not have time to look for all the paperwork for the previous 3 years tax returns.

That 10K could be your problem john, the tax-free threshold plus the low-income tax offset is now so high that you effectively need to earn about 14K+ to actually have paid net tax by the time you settle up with the ATO. If you only earned 10K you'll get ALL your tax back and won't be considered a net tax-payer.

I am not exactly sure how much my tax income is for 2007-2008 but I have not paid any tax for 2007-2008. I have been paid for some contracting work early in the year and the rest is investment income. So yes I did work in 2007-2008 and I owe the ATO tax.

 

[edman]

I am not exactly sure how much my tax income is for 2007-2008 but I have not paid any tax for 2007-2008. I have been paid for some contracting work early in the year and the rest is investment income. So yes I did work in 2007-2008 and I owe the ATO tax.

What vilemerchant is referring to though, is that your taxable income at around $10k means your tax liability gets reduced to nil, which in turn means you don't meet the requirements for the next $900 bonus. Just because you worked, or whether you have already paid tax or not, is irrelevant.

Get your accountant NOT to claim all of your expenses so your net liability is at least $1. Gets you around that problem fairly easily, and its not illegal as its up to you whether or not you claim all your deductions.

 

[JohnK]

Get your accountant NOT to claim all of your expenses so your net liability is at least $1. Gets you around that problem fairly easily, and its not illegal as its up to you whether or not you claim all your deductions.

When I said I owe tax that is what I intend to do. I will be paying tax in the 2007-2008 financial year even if it is only $1.

I used ~$10,000 income as a rough figure. I really have no idea how much I earn as rent is going up all the time and the interest paid on investment loans is slowly decreasing.

 

[vilemerchant]

When I said I owe tax that is what I intend to do. I will be paying tax in the 2007-2008 financial year even if it is only $1.

I used ~$10,000 income as a rough figure. I really have no idea how much I earn as rent is going up all the time and the interest paid on investment loans is slowly decreasing.

My point was mate that you won't be paying tax for 2007-08 unless your taxable income was over ~14K. Anything under that the tax-free threshold + low income offset will cancel out and you pay zero tax, so don't qualify for the 900 rudd bribe.

 

[cove]

I suggest Bushtuckerman reads the health concern in Google of RED BULL as it has ingredients that may do bad stuff to heart arteries and veins.
There is not much point having endless frequent flyer points if you have an adverse health event.
I figured you could do between 4 and 12 BAS payments a year per entity plus 4 quarterly tax payments per household person at up to $10,000 a time to earn FF points on VISA or MASTERCARD. Before long it would get harder to do this because you would always be away on a trip partly funded by the fiscal fiend.
Dont forget to disclose your FF PIN numbers to your beneficiaries.The last 2 estate wind ups needed this.

 

[JohnK]

Briefly spoke to my accountant yesterday and yes I can do tax return for 2007-2008 before the end of June and receive the $900 bonus.

Off course the ATO will then send a letter to my accountant asking for tax returns for 2004-2005, 2005-2006, 2006-2007 but apparently we can defer the request until such time as all the relevant documents are in my possession....

 

[Jeffrey O'Neill]

the way i see it you are paying .69% of the value o the transaction

now..what is the interest rate for your mortgage or any business loans you have??

mine is currently 5.49% so if you time your repayment so that you get 55 days free interest then you could say the 0.69% is paid for.

add in the 0.5% to 1.0% earn from the FF points and i'd say paying your tax by CC will turn into a huge money raiser for the ATO - am sure there's a fraction of a % earn in there for them.

just imagine...0.1% of say $50 billion...mmmmmmmmm

 

[albatross710]

I wonder if I can pay my BAS by $10k installments? $10k per transaction until I cover the full amount. I cant see that the wording is very clear.

Taxation payments between $10 and $10,000 will be accepted during the trial.

It does not [edit] say that a payment has to be for the total liability.

My interpretation is that a payment could be an installment as long as the transaction doesn't exceed $10k.

Any learned tax gurus have an opinion?

 

[edman]

I wonder if I can pay my BAS by $10k installments? $10k per transaction until I cover the full amount. I cant see that the wording is very clear.



It does say that a payment has to be for the total liability.

My interpretation is that a payment could be an installment as long as the transaction doesn't exceed $10k.

Any learned tax gurus have an opinion?

ATO payment options allow you to pay any amount (over, under, exact). You can even pay any amount on a pre-printed payment slip. So I would not imagine that you would have any difficulties.

The ATO is just pleased to be accepting ANY payments at the moment!

 

[bushtuckerman]

I suggest Bushtuckerman reads the health concern in Google of RED BULL as it has ingredients that may do bad stuff to heart arteries and veins.
There is not much point having endless frequent flyer points if you have an adverse health event.
I figured you could do between 4 and 12 BAS payments a year per entity plus 4 quarterly tax payments per household person at up to $10,000 a time to earn FF points on VISA or MASTERCARD. Before long it would get harder to do this because you would always be away on a trip partly funded by the fiscal fiend.
Dont forget to disclose your FF PIN numbers to your beneficiaries.The last 2 estate wind ups needed this.

Thanks for the warning mate.
Actually I've never tried vodka and Red Bull. A Thai friend told me it was a really popular drink there. Maybe I'll just stick to straight vodka.
Cheers
Bush

 

[cove]

With alcohol prices about to get hit with budget tax rises we may need to learn how to produce vodka ourselves.
Maybe it is a good time to get friends from Ukraine or Russia....They say to only drink 40 per cent stuff and you get no next day after effects like a hangover or headache.Of course these folks are experts.
In these times bush tucker and home brews could lower our cost of living.

The tax payment trial for credit cards was due to be reviewed in a week from today.Any update on this?

 

[Soundguy]

John K the local Australian Bolshevik & Communist channel interviewed a lady from the ATO about this the other day, she is about the third from the top I believe. Bottom line she says no problem if you still owe several years tax (you and and me same), just get your latest return in and as long as you pay some tax (even $1) in that year and are below the upper income limit you will get some $$ - freshly borrowed from the Chicoms on the Australia credit card.

BTW if you haven't already please have some kids to work and help pay off all this debt. Welcome to Taxland junior!

On topic again a fee of 0.67% doesn't sound much but then the points I can get from my Westpac MC aren't worth much to me either so for me I'd probably pass on this option. A $10,000 payment is a fee of $67 for which I would get 5,000 FF points. Nah.....

 

[JohnK]

John K the local Australian Bolshevik & Communist channel interviewed a lady from the ATO about this the other day, she is about the third from the top I believe. Bottom line she says no problem if you still owe several years tax (you and and me same), just get your latest return in and as long as you pay some tax (even $1) in that year and are below the upper income limit you will get some $$ - freshly borrowed from the Chicoms on the Australia credit card.

The strange thing is I have already paid PAYE for 2004-2005 financial year and have made more than sufficient voluntary tax payments for 2005-2008 financial years. The ATO actually owes me money even though I have paid tax every year for the last 4 years and all that is left to do is to lodge the tax returns. Not so simple though.

I am not evading paying and I am back on PAYE for 2008-2009 financial year....

 

[cove]

John it is very easy to let tax issues slide so maybe I can help you prioritize them.

It is fairly normal to be paying 31.5% or even 46.5% to the Australian Taxation Office as "your work partner" in income taxes.

Everyone has a right to minimize their taxable income and jaded late lodgers would tend to miss claiming expenses because it becomes hard to remember everything several years down the track.

Think of the Tax Office as your partner from hell and file early and in full to reduce their share of your pie as one of your life ambitions.

For 2008 you do need to have a taxable income to get the special handout and the fact is you dont have to claim everything to get an income that results in a net tax liability greater than $1.

Getting a few frequent flyer points by paying taxes on a credit card may help a number of us keep that jaded feeling away....

 

[PaulZ]

For someone who has taken advantage of paying their ATO bill on their credit card:

Does the 0.67% fee appear as a separate charge on the credit card statement or does the amount charged get grossed up to include the fee?

Thanks
PZ

 

[Flashback]

For someone who has taken advantage of paying their ATO bill on their credit card:

Does the 0.67% fee appear as a separate charge on the credit card statement or does the amount charged get grossed up to include the fee?

Thanks
PZ

It would be like any normal tx... it would just be one charge to the card.

 

[PaulZ]

It would be like any normal tx... it would just be one charge to the card.

That is what I thought, but the customer service person at ATO said it would be 2 transactions, so I was just seeing if anyone had first hand experience.

 

[snufl]

I just checked my card statement. There are two transactions, one for the tax and another for the fee.