ATO (tax office) payments by credit card

[amaroo]

Any opinions on the CBA Business Platinum card?
$300 annual fee, up to 3 pts per $ on the Amex. Does anyone know if it'll pay the full 3pts/$ on ATO spend?

I need to take another look as I only saw 1.5 for amex and 1 for MC = 0.75 and 0.5 (QFFP)

About the Business Awards credit card

​

Awards program

• Up to 1.5 Awards points for every dollar spent on your CommBank Business Awards American Express® Card
• Up to 1 Awards point for every dollar spent on your CommBank Business Awards MasterCard®
• Great range of rewards

EDIT: I can see the Plat has a different earn rate ... capped at 300,000 or 150,000 QFFP per year

Platinum Business Awards and Platinum BusinessAwards with Qantas Frequent Flyer Direct
Platinum Business Awards Members may earna maximum of 300,000 Awards points per yearin accordance with the table below:

 

[VAG newbie]

Here is the news on the CBA axe:
Commonwealth Bank axes Awards points on credit card tax payments - Australian Business Traveller

CBA business still good

 

[RooFlyer]

I have CBA Biz platinum cards , so I still live and breathe.

Here's the page you need for CBA Biz cards. Note these are personal liability cards ... they have my business name on them, but I'm personally liable. 3 pts/$ Plat AMEX, 1 per $1 for Plat Mcard

 

[VAG newbie]

I have CBA Biz platinum cards , so I still live and breathe.

Here's the page you need for CBA Biz cards. Note these are personal liability cards ... they have my business name on them, but I'm personally liable. 3 pts/$ Plat AMEX, 1 per $1 for Plat Mcard

I think I'll contact CBA to enquire about changing to biz platinum. But I don't want my credit score touched

 

[amaroo]

Pity about the cap

 

[Mark3000]

Yes the cap is a big problem. 300000 awards points is $100000 ATO payment for only 150000 QF points.

Better than nothing but so much worse than the Diamond Rewards cap


"Platinum Business Awards Members may earn a maximum of 300,000 Awards points per year in accordance with the table below:
Total Awards points cap = 300,000 Awards points per year


Earn 3 Awards point per $1 spent using Linked American Express Card
Earn 1 Awards point per $1 spent using MasterCard"

At the very least though I will definitely be canceling the diamond and changing to this.
Great point VAGnewbie about credit history. I will see if it's possible to get them to swap without credit file enquiry

 

[legroom]

I think I'll contact CBA to enquire about changing to biz platinum. But I don't want my credit score touched

How's that possible ?

 

[VAG newbie]

How's that possible ?

I don't know. Hopefully they can do a direct swap from my diamond card without credit enquiry. If not, it's sayonara CBA. I'd rather apply ANZ black and get the 75k bonus point and no annual fee first year

 

[VAG newbie]

So just want another update on what cards still pay full point earns with ATO?

AFAIK only ANZ (which I believe will only be a matter of time before they axe it too). BW, HSBC and WWEDR all have cap right? Westpac is half earn on Amex only, all other Amex card is 0.5/$. All citi issued card is zippo. NAB is gone too.

Any other good ones out there?

 

[sumthinfornuthin]

So just want another update on what cards still pay full point earns with ATO?

AFAIK only ANZ (which I believe will only be a matter of time before they axe it too). BW, HSBC and WWEDR all have cap right? Westpac is half earn on Amex only, all other Amex card is 0.5/$. All citi issued card is zippo. NAB is gone too.

Any other good ones out there?

Woolworths QFF Card is 1:1 up to $ 2,500 then 1point:$2.

Okay for smaller amounts eg $ 5,000 = 3,750 QFF points but the more you pay the worse it gets.

 

[Buzzard]

Arrgghh... spent 15 minutes on the phone to some monkey at HSBC who couldn't help, and spent some time browsing this thread history to find the answer, all to no avail.

Re the HSBC Platinum Qantas card, when does the new 2500/month 1:1 cap take effect for long term cardholders? I read somewhere that it was announced early July and would take effect 'a few months later' or until end of 2015 but can't see anything concrete. Last update I could find - http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ce-payments-credit-17109-518.html#post1289848

My HSBC is already capped. I think it happened sometime in August. I'm going to ring them before Oct 31 and see about switching to the Velocity card. Still capped but there is currently a fee free for life offer. If they don't switch me I'll cancel.

 

[albyd]

So just want another update on what cards still pay full point earns with ATO?

Any other good ones out there?

Base Amex velocity should still work ... Though at 1.45c/point.
Non Qantas HSBC Platinum and Premier cards are uncapped (although at 2:1 conversion - there is currently a 15% bonus Velocity offer).
https://www.hsbc.com.au/1/2/!ut/p/c...0W1gFhzmb-Ls5WrgaWQQ4GVqbECc7oLc0FAAt-1qcw!!/
Buzzard: you mention HSBC is capped - are you referring to just the Qantas version?
Looks like US issued cards are the next frontier but for the falling $A meaning effective earn rate and thus cost per point increasing.
I've recently started the process towards getting a Citi US card. I'll report back in more detail if it works. Should know in another month or so. From what I've been told, prospective limits are small compared to what we get in Australia.

 

[RooFlyer]

I think I'll contact CBA to enquire about changing to biz platinum. But I don't want my credit score touched

I don't know. Hopefully they can do a direct swap from my diamond card without credit enquiry. If not, it's sayonara CBA. I'd rather apply ANZ black and get the 75k bonus point and no annual fee first year

Do you have business bank accounts with CBA? Might be tricky otherwise, but you never know.

 

[cove]

Amex Velocity is actually half a point for 1.45 cents so that is 2.9 cents a point. I would think the titanium bladed scissors could be considered unless it is your only way to stop your Velocity points stash expiring.

Citi US has worked and is a Visa. You have to be good at transferring funds and getting great exchange rates on those funds transfers. Tonight you would get about 0.707 AA miles per dollar. We get charged a fee to receive the funds into our U.S. Bank account so you need to check your cost on this. Our combined credit limits in Australian dollar terms are over 100k but that took a few months.Our U.S. credit score is 789 out of a possible 830 and we live in the U.S. part time.
Getting a good exchange rate from Citi US will be the wild card issue and even though we have managed that in the past does not mean it is a dead certainty as currencies can move substantially in a 24 hour period or over a weekend. If the exchange rate moves say 1.0% against you then all your dreams can be shattered.

 

[cove]

If you had an ATO bill of $5,000 per month the WOW card pays 2,500 points on the first $2,500 and the 1,250 on that other $2,500. So now you have 3,750 points for $21 which is still ok as that is 0.63 cents per point. Not the best but ok.

 

[amaroo]

QCU Visa pays 1/$ and pays ATO. This card will rocket to the top of the pops now CBA has pulled the pin.

 

[jamesD]

Base Amex velocity should still work ... Though at 1.45c/point.
Non Qantas HSBC Platinum and Premier cards are uncapped (although at 2:1 conversion - there is currently a 15% bonus Velocity offer).
https://www.hsbc.com.au/1/2/!ut/p/c...0W1gFhzmb-Ls5WrgaWQQ4GVqbECc7oLc0FAAt-1qcw!!/
Buzzard: you mention HSBC is capped - are you referring to just the Qantas version?
Looks like US issued cards are the next frontier but for the falling $A meaning effective earn rate and thus cost per point increasing.
I've recently started the process towards getting a Citi US card. I'll report back in more detail if it works. Should know in another month or so. From what I've been told, prospective limits are small compared to what we get in Australia.

Be good if it comes off, would be interested in hearing how it goes.

 

[albyd]

Amex Velocity is actually half a point for 1.45 cents so that is 2.9 cents a point. I would think the titanium bladed scissors could be considered unless it is your only way to stop your Velocity points stash expiring.

My reading of the Amex site is that the RED base velocity is not currently affected by the 0.5 ratio that affects all other cards. There don't appear to be any exclusions under the "reward yourself" section in the following page:
https://www.americanexpress.com/au/content/velocity-rewards-cards/velocity-escape/?filter=credit

Seems to also be the case for the Blue Qantas offering.

All the other cards are very explicit. Has anyone had any experience with the Red and Blue cards?

Not sure if AFF rules allow this - wondering who you use for your FX Cove? I agree, managing timing of FX will be important. I'll need to do some testers to establish timing. I used to use Interactive brokers (1 pip spread hard to beat) but ASIC have shut FX Function down for Aussies - I feel safer knowing I'm "protected" from saving money (sarcasm intended). Citi charged $US15 fee for receiving first funds transfer. Never had any such fee with Wells Fargo but their cards are unattainable/don't appeal to me.

Re my attempt to get the US Citi cards - a "Banker" in a Citi US Branch I visited opened a checking account for me and I made an initial deposit. Said once that was open for 3 months, he'd help me apply for an "international" CC (the full suite of cards are available) given I don't live in the US. He did mention that limits were very low for starters. Encouraged that might not be the case. Just happy to get it set up initially. I've got another month until I find out if that strategy works. $A has fallen in the meantime so shouldn't come out behind on this one.

 

[burmans]

Re my attempt to get the US Citi cards - a "Banker" in a Citi US Branch I visited opened a checking account for me and I made an initial deposit. Said once that was open for 3 months, he'd help me apply for an "international" CC (the full suite of cards are available) given I don't live in the US. He did mention that limits were very low for starters. Encouraged that might not be the case. Just happy to get it set up initially. I've got another month until I find out if that strategy works. $A has fallen in the meantime so shouldn't come out behind on this one.

Cove would be better placed than most to comment but I think you need a few months with that low limit credit card to establish a decent score but (again, I think) you will find you score increases pretty quickly and then other cards become available.

 

[cove]

It was quite funny with Citi US as Mrscove received a limit 3 times mine despite us having the same income. Naturally she was chuffed as it was the exact opposite in Australia with the Prestige Citi cards.
We loved the 100k AA sign on miles and they were used on some lovely First Class rides on BA and AA.


With that cheap Amex Velocity CC just do a test to see if they missed cutting the earn rate with the ATO.

Bell FX compete with Westpac for our foreign exchange business and they can both deal around 10 pips when pushed.