ATO (tax office) payments by credit card

[vetrade]

I might not be taking the hint here but there is there any reason that I can't get an answer to whether CBA and ANZ pay points if your in credit.

Casting my mind back to early last year I'm confident that ANZ Platinum does pay points for purchases where you have a credit balance. I don't really see why it would matter.

 

[mark4217]

I put my ANZ black into credit and yes, I get my points.

 

[New Chump]

No one has reported missing out EB.
Is that ANZ Black and CBA Diamond??

I'm keen to find out if anyone has pre-loaded a CBA card to be in credit and earned points.

The CBA Awards terms and Conditions do not look promising:

"5. The Bank reserves the right to refuse to award points:
(a) ...
(b) to the extent that any transaction is debited against credit funds in the Member's account".

NC

 

[cove]

That is good to know NC. I don't plan to go CBA as their cards are points capped and we have a BankWest CC anyway.
Yesterday I put $xx_,xx_ and split it over cards I have mentioned previously. I still have a few nasty sized ones to pay so I got running early to run up some 0.42% bargains shandied in with some Amex 1.45%.
I offloaded some BAS to family members as you can end up with too much of a good thing in this game.

 

[Origin]

Just got my notice from HSBC Qantas Card
"Lovely read" where they outline that Qantas FF points are now 1:1 up to 2500 per month and 0.5 per $ after that.

Smiled when I read that, they also list the things that are not changing. The first one is their $199 annual fee.

Now the search for a new card!!!!

 

[baggas]

Also got my HSBC notice today. I pretty much used this card purely for paying my BAS and the free Qantas lounge passes. Now the lounge passes are gone and the points earn has halved, while still being charged the same $199 fee - why on earth would I be happy to pay that?

So I'm searching for an alternative way to pay my tax and earn maximum points (have been getting approx 140,000 per year up to now)
I don't think any of my other current cards are good options, although I'm happy to be corrected :
- St George Amplify Platinum
- NAB Qantas Plus
- Amex Qantas Ultimate
- BOQ Specialist Signature Visa

If anyone can suggest another good option with a 1+ points per dollar earn which works for ATO payments I'd love to hear it. Bankwest, CBA perhaps?
I don't mind paying a larger annual fee if it keeps the points flowing, especially since I'll save $199 by cancelling my HSBC card.

 

[kevrosmith]

Also got my HSBC notice today. I pretty much used this card purely for paying my BAS and the free Qantas lounge passes. Now the lounge passes are gone and the points earn has halved, while still being charged the same $199 fee - why on earth would I be happy to pay that?

So I'm searching for an alternative way to pay my tax and earn maximum points (have been getting approx 140,000 per year up to now)
I don't think any of my other current cards are good options, although I'm happy to be corrected :
- St George Amplify Platinum
- NAB Qantas Plus
- Amex Qantas Ultimate
- BOQ Specialist Signature Visa

If anyone can suggest another good option with a 1+ points per dollar earn which works for ATO payments I'd love to hear it. Bankwest, CBA perhaps?
I don't mind paying a larger annual fee if it keeps the points flowing, especially since I'll save $199 by cancelling my HSBC card.

NAB is out, and I understand direct AMEX cards are out as well.

 

[baggas]

Last time I checked the Direct Amex Ultimate card pays 0.5 points on ATO, but then the Amex processing fee is much higher so not a great option.
BOQ Specialist Visa specifically excludes tax payments in it's terms and conditions so that one is out.

The Amplify card I am unsure of, but if it does pay it will only be half points.

So I'm in the hunt for another card which is known to reliably earn for ATO, either a Visa/MC paying 1 point per dollar or an Amex at 1.5.

 

[ComeFlyWithMe]

Note that's the ato's guidance; it's not necessarily the legal position. There can be a vast difference between the two.

While the "guidelines" on the ATO website seem to have changed recently, the ATO hasn't withdrawn the 3 Interpretative Decisions they issued a few years ago (I linked them in post no.312 in this thread http://www.australianfrequentflyer.c...-17109-32.html (ATO (tax office) payments by credit card) . On the basis of ATO ID 2010/160 in particular, I think nothing has changed and the fee remains deductible if you pre-load your card to pay.

NC

I wouldn't be so sure.

Anyway, I don't deduct the fee when paying a personal tax obligation, never have - I take it on the chin, but the company tax is fully deductible as there is no question about whether it is business related. Sounds like this is the safe approach.

The ATO change small things like this all the time and we as complying taxpayers just have to fall into line with whatever new rules they come up with. The good thing is that they are so confusing and contradictory, you can just claim that the rules were so complex you couldn't interpret them. I doubt they'll come after you for deducting a few bucks on a credit card fee unless you have some other dodgy dealings that would raise a red flag.

As for the business, this just goes into the "bank fees" account, so nobody is the wiser.

 

[RooFlyer]

I wouldn't be so sure.

Anyway, I don't deduct the fee when paying a personal tax obligation, never have - I take it on the chin, but the company tax is fully deductible as there is no question about whether it is business related. Sounds like this is the safe approach.
<snip>.

I agree with that approach, but what do you think about the business claiming the fee when paying employees' PAYG with-held?

 

[Nizar]

I put my ANZ black into credit and yes, I get my points.

So do I. And a couple of times I have put it into credit multiples of the credit limit, and yes, I got my points. I haven't known of cards that restrict point earnings when putting cards into credit. A mate of mine recently bought a car with a CC. Car cost $30k+ pretty sure he had a sub $15k credit limit.

 

[ComeFlyWithMe]

I agree with that approach, but what do you think about the business claiming the fee when paying employees' PAYG with-held?

My unqualified opinion is that is the payment of a tax liability which is incurred in the everyday running of the business, and is therefore a business expense.

 

[RooFlyer]

My unqualified opinion is that is the payment of a tax liability which is incurred in the everyday running of the business, and is therefore a business expense.

Thanks; that's mine too. Can't see difference in a bank fee from paying ATO bill than a bank fee in paying a business related hotel bill.

 

[knasty]

I agree with that approach, but what do you think about the business claiming the fee when paying employees' PAYG with-held?

There is no question this is deductible. Look at the.ato's guidance on claiming cost of managing tax affairs. It doesn't have to be a business expense to be deductible ; cost of managing tax affairs is deductible for all.

I see no reason why the ato's cc surcharge shouldn't also fit in this category. You can claim the cost of an accountant, you can claim interest levied on you by the ato (but not penalties) as these are costs of managing your tax affairs. Paying your tax debt is integral to the managing of your affairs. Unfortunately as a PAYG employee I never get the chance to put it in practice.

 

[Pushka]

I agree with that approach, but what do you think about the business claiming the fee when paying employees' PAYG with-held?

It is no different from paying GST back that has been collected.

 

[cove]

You could go to Uni and get qualified on tax matters. The problem is the Tax Act and the ATO interpretation of it varies as cases go to court. I have handed in both my auditor registration and tax agents licence and have not missed them at all....except my tax accountant has had the temerity to announce his retirement at a youthful 65.
I have a few bills to work thru this weekend from the fiscal fiend which range from small to ridiculous in size. Of course I started on the small ones so you feel you are making great progress.
I do know the bills are due between the 21st and 28th of July but we have 2 trips in the next 3 weeks so it is better to be early.
I ran into a $10,000 QCUCC limit last night that kpc had mentioned recently. That could be a little inconvenient for some.

 

[RooFlyer]

<snip>Paying your tax debt is integral to the managing of your affairs. <snip>.

It is no different from paying GST back that has been collected.

I'm in furious agreement with you both - the nit pick I was querying is that with PAYG tax with-held, the fee involved is incurred when the business is paying some-one else's tax. But we've solved that one.

 

[knasty]

I'm surprised they challenged it at all. This is from the Ato's website guidance on deductions for box D10.

"You can claim any costs you incurred in complying with your legal obligations relating to another person's tax affairs. This includes:

complying with the PAYG withholding obligations, for example, where you withheld tax from a payment to a supplier because the supplier did not quote an Australian business numberproviding information that we requested about another taxpayer."

Anyhoo the sunshine beckons so enough talk of taxes for me today.

 

[Kangol]

If I receive a GST refund and have a PAYG instalment in a quarter, is it possible to get the entire GST refund and pay the PAYG separately? Thereby being able to get cc points?

 

[cove]

Yes Kangol. That would be a good PlanA.