ATO (tax office) payments by credit card

[exceladdict]

Is there a risk, using beem it for bpay (not necessary with ATO), that the credit card provider (not necessary the green dragon) consider it a cash advance? I know that for some bpay payment, that can be the case, wondering if having beem it as the intermediate, that prevents the transaction to be considered a advance.

Beem it used to always appear as a visa purchase but more recently I've noticed that from my ING card they're treated as eftpos withdrawls and therefore not counting as eligible transactions for things like the ING 5 transactions to get certain benefits the next month.

I've never noticed beem it registering as a cash advance from a credit card (yet) though there are certain billers - in my experience, credit cards - that beem it will not allow you to pay with credit cards.

 

[MARTINE]

I have always paid my tax bills via Amex
The fee is tax deductible in any case (business cost) and you get the amex points. Not sure why you would go through another provider as you still pay a fee (maybe I have not paid enough attention to the details). I have never had it come as a cash advance.

 

[albyd]

Paying by Amex on ATO site gets you half points whereas paying via a provider is usually treated as a purchase as Amex receives the full merchant fee (the government pays less) so can pass on the full reward points earn.

 

[MARTINE]

Paying by Amex on ATO site gets you half points whereas paying via a provider is usually treated as a purchase as Amex receives the full merchant fee (the government pays less) so can pass on the full reward points earn.

Thanks
I see
50% amex good enough for me - if there are 10k monthly limits would not work for me anyway..

 

[daft009]

Thanks
I see
50% amex good enough for me - if there are 10k monthly limits would not work for me anyway..

1.45% if you pay ATO directly with Amex and half points
OR
Use sniip and pay 1.5% incl gst with Amex and full points, no monthly cap

 

[albyd]

Are you paying with a bank Visa or MasterCard? Amex doesn’t have any monthly earn caps.

 

[Pointy Bird]

I have been using Amex and Sniip to pay ATO. It is fast, reliable and good value.
When I last worked it out, the fees from Sniip equate to a cost of about A$4000 for a return 1st class flight to Europe with Singapore Airline. This does take into account the tax deduction for Sniip fees. It will depend on how many points your particular Amex earns as there is some variation and on your marginal tax rate. If I get bored I may recalculate with new points tables.

 

[serfty]

Also note the 1.5% is inclusive of GST so 1/11th of that fee for many can be an input tax credit.

If that applies to a payment of say, a $10k ATO bill, 9.0909% of the $150 GST inclusive Sniip fee (a credit of ~$13.50) could be claimed.

I received an email from Sniip: "We're Updating our Terms"

To cut though the obfuscation, Sniip are revising their fees for "Business card Amex payments" from 15th October - looks like they are similar toB2BPay.

American Express Business payments

Transaction amount Processing fee
$0 – $99,999 2.42 (2.20% + GST)
$100,000 – $299,999 2.37% (2.15% + GST)
$300,000 – $499,999 2.30% (2.09% + GST)
$500,000 – $999,999 2.24% (2.04% + GST)
+$1,000,000 2.12% (1.93% + GST)

B2BPay may now be better if you are into Qantas points due to their partnership with Qantas Business Rewards.

 

[daft009]

I received an email from Sniip: "We're Updating our Terms"

To cut though the obfuscation, Sniip are revising their fees for "Business card Amex payments" from 15th October - looks like they are similar toB2BPay.

American Express Business payments

Transaction amount Processing fee
$0 – $99,999 2.42 (2.20% + GST)
$100,000 – $299,999 2.37% (2.15% + GST)
$300,000 – $499,999 2.30% (2.09% + GST)
$500,000 – $999,999 2.24% (2.04% + GST)
+$1,000,000 2.12% (1.93% + GST)

B2BPay may now be better if you are into Qantas points due to their partnership with Qantas Business Rewards.

I saw that too but it mentioned AMEX business cards, I use the personal amex charge so i'm hoping/guessing it doesnt apply

EDIT: yep.. from the email....

NOTE: This will not impact all Sniip users, only those making business bill payments using a business/corporate American Express card.

 

[tinky]

Hi Can someone please advise if ATO payments using beem or sniip also work in earning rewards points? Everyone in the thread seems to talk about using AMEX however I’m keen to use my St George Visa and earn the amplify points? Thanks in advance

 

[exceladdict]

Hi Can someone please advise if ATO payments using beem or sniip also work in earning rewards points?

Beem it does not accept amex, last I checked. Why not use Beem It for a small payment and see how the transaction shows up; then do a bigger payment if successful? Beem it has no fees, i believe sniip does.

 

[Scr77]

Beemit works. As @exceladdict says, do a test with your card.

 

[albyd]

I haven't used Beem with ATO but my thinking is that if it currently shows as a purchase on your credit card, then it "should" earn points. As @Scr77 suggests, do a small tester to make 100% sure. Please report back as I'm not the only one in the group keen to know the answer.

 

[tinky]

Thanks for those who have responded this far. I’ve tried a visa and Mastercard with Beem and both cards come up with an error message stating the payment method is not accepted by the biller, please try another payment method
I’ve also just realised it’s owed to Centrelink not ato but assume they are both classed as govt providers. Any other tips?

 

[albyd]

IME as long as the biller accepts BPay from credit cards (such as ATO, CSS and DEFT), then it can be paid with Beem up to Beem's limits of course. That's a shame as that's absolutely at the Biller's discretion - some billers will but others won't. Seems like it's still treated as a CC "purchase" payment - though you may get around that biller's CC surcharge by going via BPay.

 

[tinky]

IME as long as the biller accepts BPay from credit cards (such as ATO, CSS and DEFT), then it can be paid with Beem up to Beem's limits of course. That's a shame as that's absolutely at the Biller's discretion - some billers will but others won't. Seems like it's still treated as a CC "purchase" payment - though you may get around that biller's CC surcharge by going via BPay.

Thank you. I’m not as worried about surcharges just trying to optimise getting frequent flyer reward points hence wanting to pay with a credit card…

 

[jbman]

Yes I tried to pay with b eem via bpay some local govt bills which all got rejected.

 

[DeKa]

I’ve also just realised it’s owed to Centrelink not ato but assume they are both classed as govt providers. Any other tips?

I don’t believe Beem works with Centrelink.
Definitely works with ATO.

 

[prozac]

I made a recent ATO payment using Mastercard, not my usual method of payment. Everyone probably already knows this but if paid directly by Mastercard (Black) there are no points accrued at all.

 

[tuan_nobel]

Seems Beem has removed the $2,000/day and $10,000/30day limit. $2000/bpay transactions still here though.