ATO (tax office) payments by credit card

[ninja-tim]

Interesting thing about the ANZ cancelling previously awarded points and classifying them as business use, maybe that would be the case if you were actually paying a business tax bill, but it would be an interesting argument if it was an in and out and the only purpose was to earn points, so not technically a business transaction?

Hmmm, I think it's time to transfer points out of ANZ now.

I wonder if once you transfer points out, and ANZ then decide to try and cancel points; Can they ask the FF program to reverse them? or once they are out of the Banks reward program the bank can't do anything about them?

 

[BillytheFIsh]

I have a $70K BAS to pay to the ATO, tossing up whether to use the ANZ Visas @ .42 % or the ANZ Amex @ 1.45 %. I have worked out that the crediting rates mean that if I use the Amex I will get an extra 51,000 points but it will cost an extra $ 700 in charges = 1.37 cents per point....Do people reckon it's worth the cost for the extra points or just use the VISA and save the cost ?? No tax deductibility on the charges for me.

Tough decision. I've gone both ways depending on how thrifty I was feeling at the time. Particularly during last BAS time when it was also 15% velocity bonus period.

In the end the cheaper VISA @ 0.42% was hard to go past given I'd just picked up a few lots of 110K points from velocity amex. Not sure what I will do for the Dec BAS given it will be a last hurrah for ANZ, but trying to save cash at the moment, so probably go cheaper points again.

 

[shifty]

I have a $70K BAS to pay to the ATO, tossing up whether to use the ANZ Visas @ .42 % or the ANZ Amex @ 1.45 %. I have worked out that the crediting rates mean that if I use the Amex I will get an extra 51,000 points but it will cost an extra $ 700 in charges = 1.37 cents per point....Do people reckon it's worth the cost for the extra points or just use the VISA and save the cost ?? No tax deductibility on the charges for me.

My two cents worth... I always go the higher points earn (with ATO or a cost capped around 1% per point) as my redemption value on J or F is always a great return on investment at those rates. Even though I have a large stash I will use them all eventually.

 

[Doctore1003]

Just be wary that someone else here got their points which had already credited in Oct/Nov rescinded by ANZ just recently, for "business transactions". Over 800k if I remember right.

Hi, could you provide more information. Did Qantas cancel points in someone's QFF account at the instruction/request of a bank??

 

[cove]

If you can get to earn either 1.5 or 1.25 points/miles for a cost of 1.45% then most people will grab that cobranded Amex option.
Have not seen an ANZ clawback but you do need to be careful with business expenses on many cards.
I heard that HSBC was off for ATO from February 1st. Now that is a card Mrscove uses for personal so that will not worry us.
I remembered to put $5000 on the WOW cc for ATO as that gives you 3,750 QF points at 0.63 cents each.
Have about 10 ATO bills to pay for all the quarterlies by 28th February plus the monthly BAS on my desk at home.

 

[Kangol]

Hi, could you provide more information. Did Qantas cancel points in someone's QFF account at the instruction/request of a bank??

Not Qantas, but ANZ. This is for an ANZ Rewards Black card:
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....nz-cancelling-or-suspending-points-73175.html

Have not seen an ANZ clawback but you do need to be careful with business expenses on many cards.

See above

 

[sumthinfornuthin]

Gotta also ask whether you 'need' the points or if you have an abundance of points and what other point earning sources you have especially since this may be the last ATO charge you can put through before it gets cut next month.

$70k = 51k miles? that's about a 1 way J ticket to SEA on SQ, where as a revenue 1 way flight would cost at least $2-2.5k

VISA = .75 points per dollar, AMEX = 1.5 points per dollar so double points for Amex but have to rationalise whether it is worth it. Probably will. I am finding the best use of points now is upgrades on buying economy tickets and taking my chances, been successful so far.

 

[ninja-tim]

VISA = .75 points per dollar, AMEX = 1.5 points per dollar so double points for Amex but have to rationalise whether it is worth it. Probably will. I am finding the best use of points now is upgrades on buying economy tickets and taking my chances, been successful so far.

Which airline are you flying with?

 

[drross]

VISA = .75 points per dollar, AMEX = 1.5 points per dollar so double points for Amex but have to rationalise whether it is worth it. Probably will. I am finding the best use of points now is upgrades on buying economy tickets and taking my chances, been successful so far.

i always go for the higher points earn. And agree, upgrading from economy or business has been our best use of points(apart from flying the daughters to and from Mt Isa-they never seem to have sale fares on that leg)

 

[sumthinfornuthin]

Which airline are you flying with?

Qantas...............................

 

[sumthinfornuthin]

i always go for the higher points earn. And agree, upgrading from economy or business has been our best use of points(apart from flying the daughters to and from Mt Isa-they never seem to have sale fares on that leg)

Bit the bullet and opted to use the AMEX, the extra 51K of points is a lot of upgrades, might as well make the points whilst I can
Got another $ 39K to pay as well so going to let that run over into the next ANZ Card cycle in case the large debits trigger something,......might be being paranoid....crucial date to debit is 22/23 Feb so should be right.
If I'm feeling sick I might even pay my tax in advance !!! for next quarter

 

[legroom]

I said it before but will say it again.

This game of musical chairs has the writings on the wall for sometime now starting with COUNTRY-BANK's abrupt termination of the fun some time last year (? 2014) followed by domino-like falling by the wayside of the usual suspects.

I'd always go the higher points option - despite the 1.45% costs (cf the 0.42% option) - as it won't be long before we look back at today's options with fond memories.

I hope I am wrong .... and the fun continues.

 

[shifty]

Sorry guys but with WOW did I remember something about transaction limits with ATO, or was that just people being careful to not raise attention before the change to 0.5 earn rate after the first $2500 spend? At a cost for large transactions with ATO working out to per point of .0084 it's still cheap, just takes longer to get the points balance up.

 

[shifty]

Cove - did you get something about HSBC kicking the bucket for ATO?

 

[cove]

Yes I was told they are out on FEB 1st. Never used them as Mrscove uses that card for personal stuff.
WOWcc is run by Macquarie so that one is still running at mostly half pace.

 

[Scr77]

Sad state of affairs when the WOW card is looking like a good ato option. I was about to cancel as they seem less open to waiving my next fee. Maybe they will offer to waive fee when I follow through with threat.

 

[amaroo]

Won't be long before it comes down to 0.5p/$ (@1.45%) or a horror US$ exchange slide into the abyss.

 

[cove]

Spent a couple of minutes reloading several CCs so that next week is a good one. I even paid the WOW cc even though it is small in the big picture.

 

[TRS-80]

It's likely to get even worse as the RBA cracks down on CC interchange fees.

 

[shifty]

Sad state of affairs when the WOW card is looking like a good ato option. I was about to cancel as they seem less open to waiving my next fee. Maybe they will offer to waive fee when I follow through with threat.

Very true, but unlimited earn, and a lower cost per point than co-branded Amex means we just need more tax bills and we are still up