ATO (tax office) payments by credit card

[Pushka]

I have been making ATO payments for years using the Qantas American Express card. You pay the CC fee, but it's money I had to pay in any event. this is the website I use, and although it says optussmartpay.com I don't know, but could be a service used by the ATO (?) as the transactions all go through without a problem.

ATO - Card Payment

this is now on my QF account as a result of paying my personal tax:

Date Description Qantas Points Status Credits
Wed 11 Apr 2018 QANTAS AMEX PREMIUM CARD 36,340 0

AMEX will give .5 points per dollar spent with the ATO.
Considering the 1.45% cc fee, it's expensive but as mentioned above money I had to spend in any event.

Company tax is payable by 15 May as is the recent BAS. Have processed our BAS on the weekend and will do similarly using AMEX for company tax.

 

[cove]

I had to talk to the fiscal fiend this morning. I don’t usually bother. I couldn’t figure why a CC payment had not been credited for over a fortnight and copped a general interest charge. That has now been reversed so no further need to talk again. The accounts lady was quite efficient in fixing the problem but it was about 30 minutes of my life I won’t get back.

 

[coolstepslg]

does anyone know if the Latitude Infinity credit card earns points paying the ato?

 

[cove]

I would doubt it so do a $100 tester to find out.

 

[cove]

I have some refunds coming and nothing to pay at the moment. The pre-pay on the Westpac Kris Flyer Amex worked out ok. That card is now gone.

 

[Scr77]

does anyone know if the Latitude Infinity credit card earns points paying the ato?

I think it will. The coles MC did until it was transferred to Citi recently.

Like Cove says, do a tester.

I’m not sure of the value though. Looks like the rewards program is pretty basic.

 

[cove]

Citi certainly know how to switch off ATO when they take over the management of credit cards.

 

[VPS]

Just realised I need to pay some money tomorrow and don't have time to go through the threads - anyone off the top of their suggest which would be the best Citibank signature VISA, Westpac Black Amex or Qantas Amex - many thanks

 

[albyd]

Amex cards will likely give you something but going to be expensive. Westpac Black and all citi cards are no longer paying.

Depending on the point earn rate on your Amex’s, might be worth making the payment via reward pay but will take a few days to clear. Will get your normal earn rate. Will need to consider whether the service fee of 2.65% (before any tax deduction you might qualify for-seek accountant’s advice) is worth it for you.

 

[sumthinfornuthin]

Just realised I need to pay some money tomorrow and don't have time to go through the threads - anyone off the top of their suggest which would be the best Citibank signature VISA, Westpac Black Amex or Qantas Amex - many thanks

St George = .75 points per dollar + 10 % anniversary bonus = .825 % = not too bad

 

[cove]

My prepayment of monthly BAS is now almost exhausted from that Westpac Amex Kris Flyer CC.

 

[Pointy Bird]

Are you going to use Explorer/Rewards pay for a lot more points or Dragon for slightly better value but a lot less points?

 

[overtime2000]

Does the non-Qantas Bankwest World card pay ATO points? Or is that just limited to the Qantas one?

 

[cove]

I have to talk to American Express as I think they told me that there was a two card limit and I have Ultimate and Platinum Edge. Last time I checked was 2 or more years ago. They might find I have a US Premier Rewards card as well which I use to warehouse Kris Miles.
1.32 cents per Kris Mile does now look more reasonable on Explorer/ Reward Pay if we were running close to empty in our frequent flyer accounts.
Just finishing a Qantas Double Status run this week so I guess it is time to think about 2018.

 

[potm]

I have to talk to American Express as I think they told me that there was a two card limit and I have Ultimate and Platinum Edge. Last time I checked was 2 or more years ago. They might find I have a US Premier Rewards card as well which I use to warehouse Kris Miles.
1.32 cents per Kris Mile does now look more reasonable on Explorer/ Reward Pay if we were running close to empty in our frequent flyer accounts.
Just finishing a Qantas Double Status run this week so I guess it is time to think about 2018.

Yes there is a 2 credit card limit for Amex Au, charge cards are not included. US Amex cards won't be counted either.

 

[coriander]

I have three "proper" AU Amex cards: Platinum Edge, Ultimate and Explorer .

I've held the Edge for many years but it only paid 1:1 to Ascent. I got the Ultimate and its sign on points by a referral from an AFFer . I then had a Westpac branded Amex which got converted to a genuine Amex card earlier this year . A couple of weeks ago, I cancelled the Amex Westpac card and applied for the Explorer . This arrived and Amex automatically linked it to my existing Ascent program .

I then rang them to alter the credit limits (no increase but larger on Explorer, smaller on Edge) as my major spend will be on Explorer which they were happy to do .

 

[coriander]

Are you going to use Explorer/Rewards pay for a lot more points or Dragon for slightly better value but a lot less points?

Dragon is 7,500 KF miles per $10k ATO spend.
Explorer/Reward pay is 20,528 KF miles per $10,264 total ATO spend (10,000+264 fee).
So if my maths is correct, 13,028 KF miles cost 264 tax deductible dollars, assuming you're paying BAS .
Many of my suppliers take Amex so ATO is not my only Amex spend. I'm small fry compared to cove but I'm very close to 2 EU return SQ suites, so I'll probably go Explorer/RewardPay .
EDIT: Explorer/RewardPay makes my employee super payments worthwhile. However I'm assiduously avoiding using Amex/RwdPay to pay my super even though I'm an employee as well.

 

[daft009]

Won't change the maths too much but you also get the 10% annual bonus so it's 8250 KF miles per $10k assuming you keep the card

 

[kpc]

Interesting last few posts

Dragon is 7,500 KF miles per $10k ATO spend.
Explorer/Reward pay is 20,528 KF miles per $10,264 total ATO spend (10,000+264 fee).
So if my maths is correct, 13,028 KF miles cost 264 tax deductible dollars, assuming you're paying BAS .
Many of my suppliers take Amex so ATO is not my only Amex spend. I'm small fry compared to cove but I'm very close to 2 EU return SQ suites, so I'll probably go Explorer/RewardPay .
EDIT: Explorer/RewardPay makes my employee super payments worthwhile. However I'm assiduously avoiding using Amex/RwdPay to pay my super even though I'm an employee as well.

Interesting. You forgot to include using Dragon Visa costs $78 for $10000 ATO spend (0.78 % surcharge ) and earns 8250 KF miles (incl 10% birthday bonus) [0.95 c per KF mile] but via Reward Pay (2.64%) it costs $264 for 20528 KF miles [1.24 c per KF mile]. The same ATO spend with the Western bank MC (0.40%) earns 6626 Qf miles for $40 (0.40% surcharge) [0.60 c per Qf mile]. I guess we can decide which is best for our individual sutuation

 

[coriander]

Sigh. You're right, of course - I left out the Dragon surcharge .

I looked at the charges from the point of view that I was always going to pay ATO with a card paying to KF, so Dragon was my "ground zero" if you like and I was (clumsily) trying to work out the extra benefit using Explorer/RwdPay. I have 3M QFF points and seem to miss out on every upgrade I've applied for recently, though we did redeem a couple of F award flights to DXB last year .

When I compare QF vs SQ award availability for the same dates 353 days out I seem to see more availability on SQ, hence my decision to push more points towards SQ (or perhaps even CX whose flights become available 7 days before they'd appear on QF).