ATO (tax office) payments by credit card

QF WP said:
Hmmm, I had to take a capital gains hit in selling a business in 2016 FY and now I'm actually going to be able to look at paying my tax via CC. $37K between my wife and I - now to go and research the two cards (Amex Plat Reserve and ANZ QF-aligned Plat Visa). I have to see which one may give me some points. Won't have the time to put into the Visa 1 opportunity as payment will be by 21 August :(
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If you pay directly, ANZ gives you nothing and the Amex plat. reserve will give you 1 or 0.5MR per $. Not worth it in my opinion.
 
boffman said:
If you pay directly, ANZ gives you nothing and the Amex plat. reserve will give you 1 or 0.5MR per $. Not worth it in my opinion.
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Yes, I've had some offline advice as well. But even at 0.5MR per $ (18,500 MR) I'll take that for very little effort (I could wait until the next sweep to Virgin and get 10 or 15% uplift).

The rigmarole to do it is off-putting. I'm time poor at work (running my own business) so difficult to invest the amount of time needed to be able to buy gift cards or Visa1 cards in the first place. Add to that the time critical nature of the payments....aaarrgghh, there used to be an easier way (paying ATO via any CC and getting points).
 
QF WP said:
Yes, I've had some offline advice as well. But even at 0.5MR per $ (18,500 MR) I'll take that for very little effort (I could wait until the next sweep to Virgin and get 10 or 15% uplift).

The rigmarole to do it is off-putting. I'm time poor at work (running my own business) so difficult to invest the amount of time needed to be able to buy gift cards or Visa1 cards in the first place. Add to that the time critical nature of the payments....aaarrgghh, there used to be an easier way (paying ATO via any CC and getting points).
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I hear you. I guess it depends on the dollar value you put on MR points. For me it's about 1.5c. You'll be paying double that.
Have a look at reward pay. You'll double the points you get, but your cost increase will be from 1.5% to 2.4% (assuming you are GST registered).
 
boffman, happy to do the research on that option, thank you. Yes, I am personally registered for GST (as well as both my companies). Comes in handy at times ;)
 
Hi, I'm hoping someone can help me make a good decision here!

Have been reading over the forums trying to find the right info. I've got an AMEX Platinum Rewards that I've had since 2004! Currently, the limit is $8500. I haven't really been using it too much but now I want to start taking advantage of paying my ATO payments with cc. I have a number of businesses and pay a substantial amount to the ATO. Would like to start that with this next payment due on the 21st August. I have both a personal ABN and company ABN's.

Was thinking about the following approach.

1. Apply for a higher credit limit on the current Plat Rewards card (so I can use it in time for this next payment)
2. Apply for the AMEX Explorer (Hoping I can still get the bonus as it's Gateway and I'm currently only in Ascent.)
3. Have my wife apply for a card also. Does it make sense for her to go for an Explorer as well and get the 100k points or get a card on my account?
4. Would it make sense for me to then cancel my Plat Rewards and apply for the Plat Edge or perhaps one of the business options?
5. What's the best method for applying and getting the bonus points? Phone call or just online application?

Thanks very much for any advice!
 
Ojoy said:
Hi, I'm hoping someone can help me make a good decision here!

Have been reading over the forums trying to find the right info. I've got an AMEX Platinum Rewards that I've had since 2004! Currently, the limit is $8500. I haven't really been using it too much but now I want to start taking advantage of paying my ATO payments with cc. I have a number of businesses and pay a substantial amount to the ATO. Would like to start that with this next payment due on the 21st August. I have both a personal ABN and company ABN's.

Was thinking about the following approach.

1. Apply for a higher credit limit on the current Plat Rewards card (so I can use it in time for this next payment)
2. Apply for the AMEX Explorer (Hoping I can still get the bonus as it's Gateway and I'm currently only in Ascent.)
3. Have my wife apply for a card also. Does it make sense for her to go for an Explorer as well and get the 100k points or get a card on my account?
4. Would it make sense for me to then cancel my Plat Rewards and apply for the Plat Edge or perhaps one of the business options?
5. What's the best method for applying and getting the bonus points? Phone call or just online application?

Thanks very much for any advice!
Click to expand...

1. Yes sure, though check the earn rates as you will get reduced rates, unless you use reward pay or gift cards like others here.
2. You can apply but no bonus points for you as you're already an Amex customer. Different programs doesn't matter anymore..
3. Get her to get one so she gets the bonus points and then she can refer you for an extra 30k.
4. Not sure, check the earn rates and which programs you want to transfer to.
5. Ask your wife to use a referral link from here to sign up to the explorer so you help a fellow member out with 30k points :)
 
Thanks for the reply daft009. I lost patience earlier and just jumped in and applied for the Explorer, was confirmed on the spot. I was hoping that if the card came connected to Ascent I could call up and get it moved to Gateway but you're saying that doesn't work anymore for the bonus points? Maybe the Wiki over on the Explorer card needs to be updated.:cool:

I guess now I'll wait for the card and then send a referral to my wife and get her signed up for one also. At least she will get the bonus and I'll still get a referral bonus. I really should have used a referral for mine from here though!
 
Almost my turn to pay the fiscal fiend once more. Which points or Miles do I need is going thru my head.
 
Ojoy said:
Hi, I'm hoping someone can help me make a good decision here!

Have been reading over the forums trying to find the right info. I've got an AMEX Platinum Rewards that I've had since 2004! Currently, the limit is $8500. I haven't really been using it too much but now I want to start taking advantage of paying my ATO payments with cc. I have a number of businesses and pay a substantial amount to the ATO. Would like to start that with this next payment due on the 21st August. I have both a personal ABN and company ABN's.

Was thinking about the following approach.

1. Apply for a higher credit limit on the current Plat Rewards card (so I can use it in time for this next payment)
2. Apply for the AMEX Explorer (Hoping I can still get the bonus as it's Gateway and I'm currently only in Ascent.)
3. Have my wife apply for a card also. Does it make sense for her to go for an Explorer as well and get the 100k points or get a card on my account?
4. Would it make sense for me to then cancel my Plat Rewards and apply for the Plat Edge or perhaps one of the business options?
5. What's the best method for applying and getting the bonus points? Phone call or just online application?

Thanks very much for any advice!
Click to expand...

Welcome to AFFer Ojoy
 
Sunday morning in Los Angeles and I log into the ATO payments system on my iPad. It freezes.... so I log on with my main PC and the same thing.......it freezes....
No doubt this Government payments system was won by the lowest tender bid.
Anyway an hour or more later and my two credit card payments went through so we could move onto other things.
 
boffman said:
Is it really as simple as going to cashrewards, buying $30k worth of $500 woolies e-cards. Then going in person to Woolies and buying 300 (three hundred!!) $100 Visa1 cards?
Click to expand...
That's simple? :confused: Love to see the complicated method. ;)
 
I think the most complicated part will be actually buying the Visa cards at your local Woolies assuming they haven't already been cleaned out of supply and you can process enough of them at the checkout to make it a good use of your time without drawing too much unwanted attention from Woolies staff.
 
i have never had to actually pay the ATO based on my income, so am a complete newbie in this topic

is it possible to say pay $5k into my TFN and get it back within a few months?
I assume you can do this for end of year, however , 2017 FY has just passed
 

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