ATO (tax office) payments by credit card

[shifty]

I have some large BAS payments due today, is NAB QFF Premium still working for ATO?

Has anyone had a recent points post? My last points post mid Feb was successful.

I had to pay today and have no good for ATO cards other than a few NAB QFF premiums. I guess I will find out if my points post in a few weeks or I just burnt a few thousand bucks...

 

[Scr77]

I had to pay today and have no good for ATO cards other than a few NAB QFF premiums. I guess I will find out if my points post in a few weeks or I just burnt a few thousand bucks...

My points posted fine with a NAB QFF Premium last week. But my surcharge was no where near as big!

 

[angusburns]

SYD-LDH is also a very good value FF redemption flight as it is a Qantas monopoly short flight. I have been to LDH three times and love it - Being world heritage listed, I would guess LDH is probably a touch more scenic than Mt Isa...

Last time I checked, a couple of years ago, they had three FF seats on every flight, but you had to book close to 350 days out to be sure to get one.

Strongly recommend a visit there sometime. Hope this helps.

 

[prozac]

LHD...Lake Hood Alaska?

Ahhh, do you mean LDH?

 

[angusburns]

Numbers add up but I would imagine it would be quite time consuming - you would also need to value your time, and factor in the time taken to go through that process for $7.50 worth of points (at 1c per point - even at, say, 3c per point only worth $22.50)

This might be worth it if you only have small ATO bills to pay, where paying $$$ for a FF earning, ATO friendly, credit card is not cost effective.

Although, with the ANZ Black FF CC currently giving you a 50,000 points sign on (got to use it in first 30 days) for a $425 card, they are paying to to get one, so can't really see the point of the vpay way for now, maybe when all other avenues are closed.

Clever way to convert Amex spend from a non-ATO friendly CC to KF points from paying tax though - got to give you points for that!

 

[angusburns]

Sorry, dyslexic transposition: LHD -> LDH

Thanks for the quick pick-up.

 

[prozac]

Thank you for the recommendation. I had considered LDH before but thought it maybe a touch expensive accommodation/food etc. Can you recommend accommodation/pricing?

 

[angusburns]

We stayed first & second at Pine Trees, which is good but expensive - great for families with small children or older people - all meals included and good food, but you can book to eat here if not staying in house.

Then we stayed at the Leanda Lei apartments as they better suited independent travellers / family with teenagers - cheaper, no meals included, kitchens in apartments & BBQs to make you own meals. Closer to the shops, restaurants, wharf for boat trips etc. Leanda Lei Apartments

There is also cheaper accommodation for backpackers that I might consider if I came back again - I still have yet to dive at Balls Pyramid - need calm seas to get out there...

Here are my trip advisor reviews of Lord Howe Island, they are a couple of years old so double check current reviews but things move slowly on the island so hopefully still valid... SydneySkier in Lord Howe Island - TripAdvisor

If you have any other questions, shoot me a PM

Hope this helps.

 

[VAG newbie]

We stayed first & second at Pine Trees, which is good but expensive - great for families with small children or older people - all meals included and good food, but you can book to eat here if not staying in house.

Then we stayed at the Leanda Lei apartments as they better suited independent travellers / family with teenagers - cheaper, no meals included, kitchens in apartments & BBQs to make you own meals. Closer to the shops, restaurants, wharf for boat trips etc. Leanda Lei Apartments

There is also cheaper accommodation for backpackers that I might consider if I came back again - I still have yet to dive at Balls Pyramid - need calm seas to get out there...

Here are my trip advisor reviews of Lord Howe Island, they are a couple of years old so double check current reviews but things move slowly on the island so hopefully still valid... SydneySkier in Lord Howe Island - TripAdvisor

If you have any other questions, shoot me a PM

Hope this helps.

How much is a return ticket during sale? I don't think it would be over $1000 for economy. For short domestic flight under 3 hours I don't think business class is worth it. (But that's me) So not sure if it would still be good value compare to revenue ticket.

 

[prozac]

Thanks for that detail angusburns. Apologies for the OT discussion.

 

[hossein_au]

No business class to Lord Howe Island. Economy return is $994 return (just looked at 5-7 Feb 2016) for a two hour flight in a De Havilland DHC-8 Dash 8 - Runway is too short for anything bigger.

16,000 FF points + $156.26 taxes (just looked at 5-7 Feb 2016) - so just over 3.15c per point for a Qantas domestic economy frequent flyer redemption.

Can anyone find a better yielding Qantas domestic economy frequent flyer redemption?

This was an unusual trip but last June I had to go to Melbourne from Canberra. It was a family emergency and very short notice. I checked flights for the following day and the outbound was about $800 and inbound about $500 (both in economy!!). I booked using points, 16,000 plus about $100 in fees.

 

[VAG newbie]

No business class to Lord Howe Island. Economy return is $994 return (just looked at 5-7 Feb 2016) for a two hour flight in a De Havilland DHC-8 Dash 8 - Runway is too short for anything bigger.

16,000 FF points + $156.26 taxes (just looked at 5-7 Feb 2016) - so just over 3.15c per point for a Qantas domestic economy frequent flyer redemption.

Can anyone find a better yielding Qantas domestic economy frequent flyer redemption?

True. Thanks for the info.

 

[angusburns]

Good example of another situation where FF points trump cash. FF points seem to be better value than cash when time to flight is short, or distance of flight is short - no real surprise there, I guess.

I was hoping other users might report other regular domestic routes flown by Qantas, or Virgin, that are short distance, high cost, due to monopolies on that route or other factors - always good to know!

...and I think I calculated the yield SYD-LDH inaccurately, sorry.

I think that taking the taxes from both sides and then dividing cost in cents / points used gives a better: more accurate and, incidently, higher figure.

So my calc should have been $994 inc taxes - $156.26 taxes = 83,774 cents / 16,000 points gives a yield of 5.23c per point.

Does anyone have a better way to calculate the yield on a FF ticket? Always keen to learn. Thanks in advance.

 

[Peter78]

SYD-LDH is also a very good value FF redemption flight as it is a Qantas monopoly short flight. I have been to LDH three times and love it - Being world heritage listed, I would guess LDH is probably a touch more scenic than Mt Isa...

Last time I checked, a couple of years ago, they had three FF seats on every flight, but you had to book close to 350 days out to be sure to get one.

Strongly recommend a visit there sometime. Hope this helps.

Don't tell everyone, otherwise those three FF seats per flight are going to be unavailable. I actually managed to score four last year when we had visitors from Germany. But I agree, it is an awesome place and a great option for frequent flyer points.

 

[infinity]

Used to blow that cap out within six weeks
The good old days. Amex spend st $nil

Referring to CBA diamond

 

[medhead]

I have some large BAS payments due today, is NAB QFF Premium still working for ATO?

Has anyone had a recent points post? My last points post mid Feb was successful.

I had to pay today and have no good for ATO cards other than a few NAB QFF premiums. I guess I will find out if my points post in a few weeks or I just burnt a few thousand bucks...

My points posted fine with a NAB QFF Premium last week. But my surcharge was no where near as big!

Have just noticed page 3 of my NAB Qantas Rewards Premium February statement. As at 1 May 2015: "The description of net purchases will exclude when you make a payment to the ATO. This means you won't earn any Qantas points on this transaction."

Spend up until 1 May.

Also monthly points cap has been halved to $50000 per statement.

 

[cove]

With NAB being one of the Big 4 that is hurtful. I never bothered with NAB nor CBA other than BankWest. Our family is now under 10 cards that we can use to pay ATO.

 

[burmans]

With NAB being one of the Big 4 that is hurtful. I never bothered with NAB nor CBA other than BankWest. Our family is now under 10 cards that we can use to pay ATO.

Had a laugh at this, most of us would have thought (just) under 10 is more than enough, in fact I mainly use just one.

 

[albyd]

Also monthly points cap has been halved to $50000 per statement.

My statement said $20,000 per month. Does that mean different customers got a different targeted offer? Having said that zero for ATO so not so fussed.

 

[medhead]

My statement said $20,000 per month. Does that mean different customers got a different targeted offer? Having said that zero for ATO so not so fussed.

Is that for a premium rewards card?