ATO (tax office) payments by credit card

[Danger UXB]

CSR's may have no knowledge but we are talking cove here. He with the girlfriend at the ATO!! There are only 3 certainties in life . Death, taxes( paid to acquire points), and cove sitting in suites on SQ!

 

[Newk]

CSR's may have no knowledge but we are talking cove here. He with the girlfriend at the ATO!! There are only 3 certainties in life . Death, taxes( paid to acquire points), and cove sitting in suites on SQ!

One of those posts that needs a "double like" button

 

[KLN]

thanks to this thread and all the wonderful knowledge, i have just spent the afternoon sitting in K1 at Sepang circuit for the MalaysianF1. and that was MH J class return for the 3 of us. bring on more taxes. hehehe

 

[legroom]

... I paid a large tax bill last week and the points are already in my QF account......

Interesting, to say the least!

I will have one report in a few days' time having 'taken one for the team' recently.

 

[Pushka]

The same with me but that's because my CC points roll into my QF account on 29th each month.

 

[DaveB]

I made five payments on Select Awards on the 28th and all were fine - actually amazed how much the card could get loaded in consecutive days dealing also with end of month issues.
Sent a small test run thru less than $1,000 on the 20th and no go.

 

[kpc]

Now that Cit Select / Signature has bitten the dust for paying the ATO, what are our options for using a MC / Visa (so only paying 0.48% surcharge for paying the ATO) that earn 1 point per $ spent? (the QF website lists the following cards: Frequent Flyer - Earning Points - Pay)

I'm aware of:
Bank West platinum MC (200K cap per year)
HSBC Platinum Qantas Credit Card (300K cap per year)
Macquarie Visa Platinum Card (200K cap per year)
Woolworths Everyday Rewards Qantas Credit Card(Uncapped points earning)
Bank of Melbourne Amplify Rewards with Amplify Qantas (Uncapped points earning)...not sure if 1 pt per $
Jetstar Platinum MasterCard[SUP]®[/SUP] with Qantas Frequent Flyer Rewards (100K cap per year)
St.George Amplify with Amplify Qantas (Uncapped points earning)...not sure if 1 pt per $
Suncorp Clear Options Platinum Credit Card with Suncorp Bank Qantas Frequent Flyer (120K cap per year)


The Woolworths Everyday Rewards Qantas Credit Card looks like a good thing here...thoughts?

 

[oz_mark]

Bank of Melbourne Amplify Rewards with Amplify Qantas (Uncapped points earning)...not sure if 1 pt per $
St.George Amplify with Amplify Qantas (Uncapped points earning)...not sure if 1 pt per $

These are both 1 pt per $2. They're more or less the same program.....

 

[legroom]

I made five payments on Select Awards on the 28th and all were fine - actually amazed how much the card could get loaded in consecutive days dealing also with end of month issues.
Sent a small test run thru less than $1,000 on the 20th and no go.

Same date and same outcome here from "taking one for the team".

Dead, gone and deeply buried, I'd say.

 

[Stephen65]

I checked my last statement and I did not get Citi rewards points for ATO transactions on 4 and 5 March (on my Citibusiness Gold card). So it seems 1 March was the date they decided to strictly enforce the points earn rules.

I rang the Citi rewards people and they confirmed that those transactions were classified "non-retail" and thus not eligible for points. I pointed out that this was a change on Citi's previous treatment of ATO transactions and they refused to accept that there had been any change - in fact they went so far as to say that if I had been allowed points on these transactions before then the computer must have "slipped" on those occasions and it was an act of good grace by Citi to me that they hadn't tried to reverse those points.

After hearing that last line I went back a bit later and emptied my Citi rewards account by redeeming all points.

I have a CBA Diamond Amex that has always allowed 1:1.5 points earn on business spend including large ATO transactions but I don't like the high surcharge compared with visa. Looks like I am going to close my Citibusiness Gold and have to investigate the 1:1 VC/MC alternatives as well.

 

[jamesD]

I checked my last statement and I did not get Citi rewards points for ATO transactions on 4 and 5 March. So it seems 1 March was the date they decided to strictly enforce the points earn rules.

Just to confirm, are you saying you used a Citibusiness Gold for ATO transactions post March 1 and didn't receive any points with that either?

 

[Duffa]

"taking one for the team".

I think that "taking one for the team", much as it hurts, is a reflection of the honour code among our members. One does it to help others.
We know that Cove took 200k, (with his customary good grace) and DaveB took 1k. I can advise that I took 11k (and yes, it still smarts!).
What about the others?
How about a new thread with an honour board?

 

[Stephen65]

Just to confirm, are you saying you used a Citibusiness Gold for ATO transactions post March 1 and didn't receive any points with that either?

Yes. I used my Citibusiness Gold card to pay ATO bills on 4 and 5 March and I did not receive any Citi Rewards points for those transactions. Previously I always have.

PS: Citi's unannounced decision to start disallowing ATO spend cost me about 40,000 QFF. What's especially annoying is that if I paid the bill on the due date (28 Feb) I would have got the points but I was too busy so I thought I would do it the next week and suffer the little bit of GIC.

 

[jamesD]

Yes. I used my Citibusiness Gold card to pay ATO bills on 4 and 5 March and I did not receive any Citi Rewards points for those transactions. Previously I always have.

PS: Citi's unannounced decision to start disallowing ATO spend cost me about 40,000 QFF. What's especially annoying is that if I paid the bill on the due date (28 Feb) I would have got the points but I was too busy so I thought I would do it the next week and suffer the little bit of GIC.

So RIP Citibusiness Gold as well. That is nasty!

 

[Stephen65]

It's a shame because its got the single best earn for QFF of any Visa card ($1:1.25 QFF) and a reasonable annual fee ($149). I will have to cancel though because if I can't use it for tax it's worthless to me. At least I won't have to deal with Citibank credit cards call centre anymore (I have one of their Citi Plus visa debit cards for o/seas travel and its a good product).

I'm thinking of looking at either the Woolworths QF card or the HSBC QF card both of which I understand earn 1:1 on QFF. Does anyone know whether they are likely to disallow large ATO transactions?

 

[Newk]

It's a shame because its got the single best earn for QFF of any Visa card ($1:1.25 QFF) and a reasonable annual fee ($149). I will have to cancel though because if I can't use it for tax it's worthless to me. At least I won't have to deal with Citibank credit cards call centre anymore (I have one of their Citi Plus visa debit cards for o/seas travel and its a good product).

I'm thinking of looking at either the Woolworths QF card or the HSBC QF card both of which I understand earn 1:1 on QFF. Does anyone know whether they are likely to disallow large ATO transactions?

Um, re the WW card...some here have already had their cards cancelled IIRC
I counsel care with very large ATO payments, but others of course may disagree. It's one thing to get yourself cancelled, it's another to muck up the whole game

 

[Duffa]

I rang the Citi rewards people and they confirmed that those transactions were classified "non-retail" and thus not eligible for points. I pointed out that this was a change on Citi's previous treatment of ATO transactions and they refused to accept that there had been any change - in fact they went so far as to say that if I had been allowed points on these transactions before then the computer must have "slipped" on those occasions and it was an act of good grace by Citi to me that they hadn't tried to reverse those points.

"non-retail" ???!!!
Hang on a minute! Isn't my PERSONAL tax, a bill like any other? School fees, rates, life insurance, professional indemnity?
I don't mind Amex Platinum warning us in advance that from 1st May, ATO and utilities go to 0.5 points but you can't just decide that a tax bill suddenly becomes "non retail", without warning.
I think I might go to consumer affairs on this. Or small claims court!
What about a class action?

 

[Newk]

"non-retail" ???!!!
Hang on a minute! Isn't my PERSONAL tax, a bill like any other? School fees, rates, life insurance, professional indemnity?
I don't mind Amex Platinum warning us in advance that from 1st May, ATO and utilities go to 0.5 points but you can't just decide that a tax bill suddenly becomes "non retail", without warning.
I think I might go to consumer affairs on this. Or small claims court!
What about a class action?

re the class action: only if the lawyers take Amex without surcharge. But: no thanks, not for me. I'd be reckoning other CC issuers will follow in one way or another....lower earn, caps, outright rejection etc etc

I totally see your point about no warning

 

[Stephen65]

I agree it was pretty slimey. They've obviously made a policy decision effective 1 March to disallow ATO spend on all customers cards - without warning.

Here are the T&Cs for the reward program:

http://www.citibank.com.au/global_d...CitiBusiness_Rewards_Terms_and_Conditions.pdf

The key bits seem to be:

Eligible Transaction means any Retail Purchase
which is made by the use of a Card or any
other means permitted by Citibank excluding
(but not limited to) transactions by way of
Cash Advances, Balance Transfers, Special
Promotions, fees, purchases of foreign currency
and travellers cheques, foreign exchange and
ATM/ bank charges, interest charges, finance
charges, government charges, insurance charges,
payments to Citibank loan accounts (mortgage
etc), and all other transactions if the Account is
more than $10,000 in credit.

Despite being capitalised "Retail Purchase" is not a defined term.

I've made a complaint to Citi and they promise a response within 7 days. I'm minded to argue I should have my 40,000 points because they changed their interpretation of Retail Purchase without warning.

 

[oz_mark]

It's in the Revolving Credit T&Cs

Retail Purchase a Transaction other than a Cash Advance or a Special
Promotion, as determined by us at our discretion.