ATO (tax office) payments by credit card

[LittleFokker]

...desperate people seek desperate measures.

hey! I resemble that remark!

 

[cove]

I was gruntled to read that.
Not feeling impecunious at the moment as no ATO bills have rolled in.

 

[serfty]

...

But I think it is quite clear that desperate people seek desperate measures.

That is rubbish as far as the topic of this thread goes.

It's not desperate at all, it is simply common sense.

If there is an opportunity to garner points outside of flying in a cost effective manner (e.g. points for spend plus a fraction more when that spend is necessary) then I will do so.

While not generating as many as some I do get value out of points; how do I do that? Well I spend them, not storing.

In the last year or so I have managed to burn nearly 300K QFF points and 250K velocity with an additional +++ of around $600 all up.

 

[JohnK]

That is rubbish as far as the topic of this thread goes.

It's not desperate at all, it is simply common sense.

If there is an opportunity to garner points outside of flying in a cost effective manner (e.g. points for spend plus a fraction more when that spend is necessary) then I will do so.

By paying a bill that doesn't exist? It's not rubbish and I don't agree that it's common sense.

And yes the topic of this thread is paying the tax bill to the ATO and earning points.

 

[Kangol]

By paying a bill that doesn't exist? It's not rubbish and I don't agree that it's common sense.

And yes the topic of this thread is paying the tax bill to the ATO and earning points.

I think the word you may be looking for is "pre paying"

 

[burmans]

I think the issue is it's all well and good to be making these payments where you have an obligation and can make the occasional 'mistake' in over estimating your obligation.
Abuse of this e.g. PAYG taxpayers who've never needed to make these sorts of payments is only going to draw unwanted attention to it and increase restrictions for everyone. Much like certain retail staff getting their knickers in a knot about Visa GC buying. I'm sure we're all well intentioned on this forum but the authorities may start thinking of real or imagined threats which they'll need to impose restrictions on to combat.
I recall in this thread one member reported over paying their tax and the ATO called them on it then refunded the payment to the original source (notwithstanding they usually refund to linked bank account) which defeated the member's purpose of making the payment.

Yes, I agree that the ATO may be a bit pissed off at people wasting their time (as my understanding is that these refunds are a manual process). The other problem that you may run into is that under tax law income tax deductibility of the fees is directly linked to the payment itself (for businesses), i.e. the logic for allowing a deduction for the fee is that paying tax itself is a cost of doing business (and hence an allowable deduction). It would be hard to make a case that paying ATO then asking for a refund is a legitimate business expense if they were prompted to review your affairs.

In disagreeing with JohnK I wasn't suggesting there may not be many reasons ATO might not like this behaviour, I was just stating that money laundering is unlikely to be the reason given they have no legitimate authority in regards to this (though they can and do "share" information with other government departments when allowed or required to by law).

 

[unfunkable]

Sorry I didn't see any of JohnK's winging - was busy getting up early buying all the giftcards at woolworths

Does anybody use a GO MASTERCARD for ATO?
I have 2 - one for myself and partner. One card works fine.
Other card has been getting declines on the ATO website since June. It is the weirdest thing. The card works fine anywhere else. Have been with contact with GO several time, and they tell me the card is not blocked or barred or anything.
When the ATO declines it, it sits as pending for about 7 working days, and on their end it is ''approved", but eventually it falls off and funds get released back to me. They(GO MASTERCARD) did some more research and they said the card is being charged twice in succession hence the decline. I tried different browsers, different computers. The working card works fine for both tax accounts, so the PRN is not the issue....
Any ideas? I am going to request a new card sent out to see if this fixes it.

 

[serfty]

By paying a bill that doesn't exist? It's not rubbish and I don't agree that it's common sense. ....

Your comment is rubbish for many. If it had been this would not be a post amongst the well over seven thousand in this thread.

If I value a point at 2¢ and can get 10,000 points for an net cost of 1¢ each then I will do so as I am profiting in point value to the tune of $200 worth of points for $100.

Of course, if you don't burn / spend those points then they have no value.

Most people here do spend those points.

 

[Origin]

Your comment is rubbish for many. If it had been this would not be a post amongst the well over seven thousand in this thread.

If I value a point at 2¢ and can get 10,000 points for an net cost of 1¢ each then I will do so as I am profiting in point value to the tune of $200 worth of points for $100.

Of course, if you don't burn / spend those points then they have no value.

Most people here do spend those points.

I think you have missed JohnK's point. He was talking about paying non existing bills as a desperate bid to generate points. I agree with him. His comment is not rubbish!

 

[cove]

Because we live in Perth it is 36,000 points to get to Melbourne in the front of the plane on QF and a little less on VA.I find the ATO thread to be quite a valuable travel tool as do the rest of our family.
Paying a bill that does not exist is not something I need to do as the ATO send us lots of genuine bills. I feel lucky that js started this thread.

 

[serfty]

I think you have missed JohnK's point. He was talking about paying non existing bills as a desperate bid to generate points. I agree with him. His comment is not rubbish!

As indicated by Kangol, it's pre-paying.

Get's those points today for $100 as tomorrow they may cost $250 and the opportunity lost.

I do not see such action as "desperate"; merely being anticipatorily smart.

 

[Origin]

As indicated by Kangol, it's pre-paying.

Get's those points today for $100 as tomorrow they may cost $250 and the opportunity lost.

I do not see such action as "desperate"; merely being anticipatorily smart.

Originally Posted by SOPOOR 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-debts is one of them.

This doesn't sound like pre-paying to me.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I do agree though that finding other new ways to generate points is worth while and can be time well spent.

 

[HTG2016]

I got a land tax bill for OSR NSW due early september and wondering if payment can be made using those $100 GC from WW or Coles , if not what is the best Visa / MC option for those bill considering they are gov bodies i have ANZ Travel , Westpac Black Master Card

 

[bbqwer]

I got a land tax bill for OSR NSW due early september and wondering if payment can be made using those $100 GC from WW or Coles , if not what is the best Visa / MC option for those bill considering they are gov bodies i have ANZ Travel , Westpac Black Master Card

made using those $100 GC from WW or Coles = Yes you can.

 

[burmans]

Describing these as "desperate measures" being undertaken by "desperate people" sounds like a fairly personal attack to me (when clearly addressed in response to one person's situation) which I am quite sure that JohnK is aware is against posting guidelines, being one of the forums most prolific posters.

I get that we have differing tolerances and need for undertaking some activities, some people have plenty of points and don't need to do this and some are prepared to take a bit more risk.

But I really don't understand why people who don't want to do something feel a need to come and moralise and use such emotive terms about others. Sure, there are no posting guidelines on trolling but very few people I know regard it as a positive thing.

 

[QF WP]

Are you really desperate for points? I wouldn't want the ATO questioning why I paid a bill when I didn't have a bill to pay. They may treat it as money laundering.

I think you may be confusing government agencies, its AUSTRAC who monitor this. Given the problem has with their own systems I cant see them being anything but grateful that money is paid whether required or not. They have a whole program trying to get people to pay, they are far more concerned about that.

Burmans, you're aren't fully correct in your assertion about AUSTRAC, as can be seen here: About AUSTRAC | Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC). They are concerned with suspicious cash transactions (above $10,000) with a particular focus on anti-money laundering and terrorism related transactions.

The ATO have their own internal teams and are more concerned about tax crime, however if they thought that cash was being used through the tax system, they would complete an AUSTRAC report on a taxpayer.

The joys of being in one of the 5 key sectors that report to AUSTRAC - and having to consider whether for one of my clients I needed to anonymously report them to AUSTRAC for a cash business venture

Our use of tax payments on CC's are more likely to show up the the ATO's exception reports and if there are sufficient in number, might mean them blocking the ability to accept payments in excess of ones tax obligations or if a serious or consistent abuse may mean alternative methods used - like a "show cause" notice (or similar) being issued.

 

[Kilo]

Is the BOM card uncapped for ATO spend? I thought they had a limit of 20k?

 

[burmans]

I am not confusing government agencies. I would not want to be making regular payments to government agencies when I did not owe them money. Too many red flags everywhere.

But I think it is quite clear that desperate people seek desperate measures.

Burmans, you're aren't fully correct in your assertion about AUSTRAC, as can be seen here: About AUSTRAC | Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC).

Am not sure what part you think is incorrect. The link you reference seems quite clear that Austrac is the regulator.
"AUSTRAC is Australia's financial intelligence agency with regulatory responsibility for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing."

If we are going to be pedantic your statements that "They are concerned with suspicious cash transactions (above $10,000)" is also incorrect. This is only one of three type of transactions they care about, see Chapter 7 - AML/CTF reporting obligations | Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC).

However your comment seems to miss the point of the title of this thread "ATO (tax office) payments by credit card" as such your comment that "if they thought that cash was being used through the tax system, they would complete an AUSTRAC report on a taxpayer" seems irrelevant to the thread which is about payment by CC.

Not sure what you means by the 5 key sectors that report to AUSTRAC as I thought there were three (Financial Services, Bullion and Gambling) as per Chapter 2 - Designated services | Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC) but always happy to be educated.

I do understand that these impacted services need to send data to AUSTRAC to enable AUSTRAC to do their job but as abundantly displayed by Commonwealth Bank sending information to AUSTRAC (or not in their case) and being concerned about Money laundering are clearly not one and the same. I'm also not convinced that ATO fall into any of these categories but once again happy to be proven wrong.

 

[QF WP]

Am not sure what part you think is incorrect. The link you reference seems quite clear that Austrac is the regulator.
"AUSTRAC is Australia's financial intelligence agency with regulatory responsibility for anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing."

Correct - however one is drawing a long bow to say that overpayment of a credit card falls under their jurisdiction.

However your comment seems to miss the point of the title of this thread "ATO (tax office) payments by credit card" as such your comment that "if they thought that cash was being used through the tax system, they would complete an AUSTRAC report on a taxpayer" seems irrelevant to the thread which is about payment by CC.

My comment goes to the point of the thread. Whilst the vast majority of all CC transactions are made electronically these days, then per se there is no cash transaction, thus those transactions (over)paying the ATO is not likely to fall under the auspices of AUSTRAC. Putting my mind to the point, the only ways I can see one would happen is if said cash transaction is made via a bank teller or ATM, both of which would be reportable events to AUSTRAC if they exceeded the thresholds.

If we are going to be pedantic your statements that "They are concerned with suspicious cash transactions (above $10,000)" is also incorrect. This is only one of three type of transactions they care about, see Chapter 7 - AML/CTF reporting obligations | Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (AUSTRAC).

You only partially quoted what I typed, as I continued "with a particular focus on anti-money laundering and terrorism related transactions, after all the legislation sitting behind AUSTRAC is after all "[FONT=&amp]The [/FONT]Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Act 2006[FONT=&amp] (AML/CTF Act)"[/FONT]

Not sure what you means by the 5 key sectors that report to AUSTRAC as I thought there were three (Financial Services, Bullion and Gambling) as per

http://www.austrac.gov.au/chapter-2-designated-services but always happy to be educated

Sure - refer to my earlier post and the link in part reads (at the bottom of the page):

[FONT=&amp]The businesses we regulate provide more than 70 designated services in five key sectors:[/FONT]

• financial services
• gambling
• bullion dealers
• remittance service providers
• cash dealers.

The 3 you have quoted are the common designated services, but not the only ones as pointed out above.

We also need to be careful that we don't go too off topic as topic drift is a killer

 

[JohnK]

I think the word you may be looking for is "pre paying"

I guess that is one consideration for those that need to "pre pay" tax.

Your comment is rubbish for many. If it had been this would not be a post amongst the well over seven thousand in this thread.

I think you have missed my point but that's OK.

I think you have missed JohnK's point. He was talking about paying non existing bills as a desperate bid to generate points. I agree with him. His comment is not rubbish!

How would it look if someone was earning $50,000 pa and "pre paying" $100,000 tax? I think the tax office would have some sort of list where they refund money. I would not want to be on that list especially on a low income. Raises too many red flags. If on the other hand you are already paying tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of dollars of GST or tax then you would think you were safe.