ATO (tax office) payments by credit card

[Beta4Me]

Can someone post a cost for $10K ATO bill paid:
Amex via Westfield Gift Card cost Total = ?
ATO website with CC fee Total = ?

Regards

Amex + XS: (4.95 + 995) * 10 + 50 = $10,049.50 for 14,999 points (assuming last $50 is paid by cash as its not worth buying one more card for it). This is a cost of 0.33cpp.

Visa with ATO: 0.48% surcharge so 0.48cpp for 10,048 points with a total cost of $10,048.

Amex with ATO: 1.45% surcharge so 0.95cpp for 15,218 points with a total cost of $10,145.

 

[PLANT]

What are the "First year Free" AMEX cards that I can use to get 15K in points for a $1.50 more than I pay now?

 

[d00dz]

Does anyone know if the AMEX Qantas Discovery allows you to pay the bill using XS gift cards at the post office?

 

[Danger UXB]

:?:Can these gift cards be recharged to avoid the purchase fee except for the fist one?

 

[d00dz]

:?:Can these gift cards be recharged to avoid the purchase fee except for the fist one?

Pretty sure not.

 

[Newk]

My experience (and many, many thanks to those who posted with the idea and instructions)

and I am aware that this is all slightly off topic, but it IS an indirect way of paying ATO by cc

Tried to buy $1000 XS Westfield card with my Diners. Fail on two counts. They don't take Diners (the assistant said they did) and $995 is the max (DUH, it IS pointed out here)
So I got a $995 XS with my Qantas Ultimate Amex. $4.95 fee, or something like that. Straight around to the the nearest PO. Met with very friendly incredulity by assistant at PO: "never seen that card", "we don't take it", "you cannot pay ATO with it anyway". I was gentle in my persistence. So she agreed to give it a try after reading the instructions kindly provided with the card by Westfield (hint: keep the instructions as they help you and may help the person trying to process the card)
Success: as proof of concept I paid a credit card bill (Diners) and an ATO bill, total payments $995. So no fees? I'll have to read the thread again to see what fees others have experienced at the PO. I accept that there may be a fee added on by the cc company on my next bill.
I'll have to do the calculations. I see others have above. It does appear a cheaper way to pay ATO by Amex. And an interesting way to pay credit card bills. Certainly it is all very amusing, part of the reason I do all of this stuff

As there was a growing queue in the PO I didn't have time to explore other options, but the woman said that it MAY be possible to pay credit cards without the paper bill and bar code. Just bring along credit card and fill in one of the PO's deposit slips. Also it may be possible to pay into bank accounts. Just fill in deposit slip it seems. Could this be a cheap way to get cash advances? Will think about it.

Thanks again all

 

[Newk]

Pretty sure not.

it says on the back of the card that they cannot be recharged. Hey, but I am continually proven wrong on this sort of stuff because of the ingenuity and persistence of the AFFers. So happy to hear otherwise

 

[sumthinfornuthin]

Have been successful in paying my Amex card statements using XS Gift Cards at the post office. Amex does however impose $2.50 for paying over the counter at the post office. One may have to revert to getting paper statements as they only carry the bar code that is used by the post office to scan the bill.

Mmmmmmm point opportunity here ??? How long did it take the ATI to refund the money
????

 

[Newk]

Noticed that you are in Melbourne. Westfield Southland and Fountain Gate Post Office have automated bill payment machines. Helps avoid the stares one would usually get if making payment by many different EFTPOS Card in one day.

ooooooh. Does anyone know if there are any of these in Adelaide?

 

[Newk]

Does anyone know if the AMEX Qantas Discovery allows you to pay the bill using XS gift cards at the post office?

I cannot see why not. It seems you can with other Amex cards. Indeed I have just changed to paper statements for my Ultimate and DJ Amex cards so as to keep my options open with this method. Look on the bill and see if there is a "pay at post office" option.

 

[Flashback]

I cannot see why not. It seems you can with other Amex cards. Indeed I have just changed to paper statements for my Ultimate and DJ Amex cards so as to keep my options open with this method. Look on the bill and see if there is a "pay at post office" option.

Can you not just print out the bill you receive online and it has the same pay at post office option? (assuming it's costing you money to now receive paper...)

 

[Newk]

Can you not just print out the bill you receive online and it has the same pay at post office option? (assuming it's costing you money to now receive paper...)

yeah, that's what I thought

And more experimentation is needed. The on-line statement doesn't have the post office bar code. Or at least I cannot see it on the Amex version. And someone earlier in the thread seems to intimate as well that the posted version is needed. The PO woman said the bar code is a necessary part of the payment. I do note however that she didn't really know all that much about what I was trying to do. And then she said later that cc payments could be made with just the card and a PO deposit slip

So when I have time I'll try other options. I need time, a clear head and no queue in the post office


In the mean time I'll switch to paper and await the reports of others. Also I admit to not having looked at the Citibank on-line statements

 

[xsiq]

Amex specifically mention that a copy of the online statement will not work when making payments at the post office. The online version probably does not have the bar code that is used by the post office to scan the details of the bill.

Can you not just print out the bill you receive online and it has the same pay at post office option? (assuming it's costing you money to now receive paper...)

 

[Newk]

I have purchased the gift cards with my Amex Platinum Edge Card. The concierge at Westfield may request some id. The fees is $4.95 irrespective of the denomination of the gift card but the maximum value that can be loaded in one gift card is $995. Present you Amex Statement (Must be a paper statement that they send in the mail, not the ones printed from their website) at the post office and elect to pay by EFTPOS. Select the the savings account on swiping your gift card. Amex charge $2.50 for the privilege of paying at the post office.

Essentially the additional cash flow one can generate by way of the revolving credit (interest free) ends up paying for all the transaction fees associated with the purchase and the payment of the card making the points nearly free

Have also used the Gift Cards to beat the surcharge various places have on Amex.

this is one of the posts of the year so far, for me. Many thanks

 

[Newk]

Well, it is novel. I don't have a Westfield near me so that doesn't interest me much but it would mean purchasing quite a few of those cards to pay the tax bill. Not sure that would be practical for some plus time is money!

you can buy them on-line. It's worth considering as this method firms up as viable

 

[Newk]

Short answer - a novel idea, but it didn't work

---

ah...but maybe it does

(I know you were summarising another post)

 

[xsiq]

Just looking at their corporate order form on their website.

It may be possible to purchase the cards for $2.50 instead of $4.95

No mention of eligibility or miminum number of cards per order, but I am sure that should not be problem for most people here.

Will give it a shot over the weekend and post the results.

you can buy them on-line. It's worth considering as this method firms up as viable

 

[Newk]

There are alternatives if you are eligible for different credit cards. If the particular tax is BAS you may be able to get a tax credit up to 47.5% off depending on your tax rate.
So if you pay a tax deductible $52.80 on a BAS of $11,000 the net cost may be as low as about $27 for 11,000 FF points. There are at least 6 credit cards that can do this for you.
Using a big four Amex card you may get 1.5 points per dollar for about double the net cost.

mmm, good point about the tax deduction of the credit card fee. May need to be taken into consideration when calculating this Westfield business. I wonder if any (legitimate) argument can be made for the Westfield card fee being a business expense?

 

[Newk]

The cost to pay the a $9950 bill would be $49.50 as the ATO do no charge anything to pay at the post office.

Ok, got here going back over the thread. Explains why I paid no fee today
Thanks again

 

[Beta4Me]

Just thinking about this, maybe I should carry an XS gift card around loaded with $995 in case I ever need to buy anything in person from ANYWHERE that applies a surcharge for CC payments. There is the opportunity cost of the money, but it's food for thought...