ATO (tax office) payments by credit card

[albatross710]

Just on that point, has anyone had points reversed, or disallowed by any bank becuase it was deemed a business expense and not personal?

not on any of my cards with Westpac over the years.

 

[cove]

What actually happens is Westpac will change your credit card over to a "business visa or mastercard" so that the merchant pays a higher transaction rate on your "new" card.
You keep the points!

 

[serfty]

Used W/Pac Earth (Amex) for an ATO patyment and 1½ points per $ credited to my QFF account.

 

[albatross710]

What actually happens is Westpac will change your credit card over to a "business visa or mastercard" so that the merchant pays a higher transaction rate on your "new" card.
You keep the points!

When we were looking at changing our Merchant facility to CBA last year, they gave us a whole 'al la carte' range of fees for different types of cards indicating the higher % we would pay for accepting corporate and business cards. We opted to move in Suncorp whom were offering a fixed % for all cards. As a merchant we aren't getting the different rates passed through but we are probably paying it in not getting a lower rate on personal cards.

 

[cove]

As a guide the best rate going is displayed by Telstra when it tells you what their credit card processing fee is for different types of cards.
If you can get within 10 percent of this you are doing fine as a merchant.

 

[Bundy Bear]

2 credit cards and 2 bank accounts and I finally got the tax paid.

Yes I was milking the money tree in the back yard today, it is running dry, for some reason the tax department think I am making oodles of money.

This thread has saved me lots of hassle, and I get a few points for the trouble as well.

 

[Bundy Bear]

Still paying tax, the government thinks I am making money, I wish it would hurry up and finish the tax return for 2008/09.

I have to go and find this thread each time I pay the tax; I thought I had already bookmarked the payment page, but for some reason I lost it. :-|

 

[Mogul]

Another $250K a year on the CC wonder if the bank will notice on top of the $800K a year I already put on it.

 

[jamesatfish]

As a guide the best rate going is displayed by Telstra when it tells you what their credit card processing fee is for different types of cards.
If you can get within 10 percent of this you are doing fine as a merchant.

Surely not?!

My wife's business merchant facilities are with Westpac, and with a turnover of <$10M per annum they charge .61% for Visa & MasterCard transactions. We don't take AMEX, we don't get charged a different amount if it's a 'business' card - just .61% on the transaction amount which we wear as our own cost of doing business (ie we don't pass it on to customers).

Anyone with turnover of the Telstra kind would be on a far better rate than a small business like ourselves. There's no way that the 1% Telstra charges for Visa / MC transactions doesn't include a tidy profit for themselves.

 

[edman]

Anyone with turnover of the Telstra kind would be on a far better rate than a small business like ourselves. There's no way that the 1% Telstra charges for Visa / MC transactions doesn't include a tidy profit for themselves.

What I don't understand is why Telstra charges 1% for Amex/Visa/Mastercard yet Sensis charges .64%. Something not right there.

So slightly OT, but can anyone suggest who to approach for best deal on merchant facilities?

I'm currently with NAB who charge me .87 for standard cards and 2.1% for premium/international etc. Its cheaper for me to take Amex than a premium visa!

Yet I am with CBA for my restaurant who charge a flat rate of .67%. Lower turnover than my accounting practice, but CBA will only give me a rate of 1.2% flat for the accounting business.

 

[Flashback]

What I don't understand is why Telstra charges 1% for Amex/Visa/Mastercard yet Sensis charges .64%. Something not right there.

So slightly OT, but can anyone suggest who to approach for best deal on merchant facilities?

I'm currently with NAB who charge me .87 for standard cards and 2.1% for premium/international etc. Its cheaper for me to take Amex than a premium visa!

Yet I am with CBA for my restaurant who charge a flat rate of .67%. Lower turnover than my accounting practice, but CBA will only give me a rate of 1.2% flat for the accounting business.

Go figure. The more business you put through, the higher the surcharge.... more money = greater risk ?

 

[albatross710]

Just paid some ATO liabilities today and can report that the payments system has now been upgraded to accept tax payments up to $50,000 per transaction, previously limited to $10,000 per transaction. (Edit: Just to clarify I wasn't actually paying a $50k liability, just noticing the extra facility now)

Current fees are:

Visa/MasterCard 0.65%
American Express 1.25%

As a matter of interest, when typing in the amount it needs to be entering including the two decimal places. The page isn't happy today with just 5000 needs to be 5000.00. hmmm

 

[cove]

Yes hitting your credit card with the number 5000000 does cause some concern but the last to zeroes are the cents fortunately.
Paying $50,000 a time will fill the ATO up faster and it is quicker to pay a big Tax Bill!

 

[WA flyer]

That's good news.

I had to make 14 transactions last to month to pay the BAS!

 

[Bundy Bear]

That's good news.

I had to make 14 transactions last to month to pay the BAS!

And I thought making 2 credit card payments was a big deal; but you certainly make my tax payments look small. :shock:

 

[coyote25]

Obviously the ATO has a reaonable deal to get the AMEX surcharge lower than the difference most vendor charge when they have a surcharge.

I'm wondering if a lot of people pay with AMEX for points given the small % difference and if that would be worth it (ie the value of the extra points).

 

[cove]

Judging by the rapidly advancing credit card payment receipt numbers I would agree.

 

[jamesatfish]

I'm wondering if a lot of people pay with AMEX for points given the small % difference and if that would be worth it (ie the value of the extra points).

I paid our BAS last quarter on AMEX for the first time, and will do so again in the future purely for the points.

On our Westpac Altitude Business AMEX we only earn 1.5 QF points per dollar, but if we pay $280K of GST each year we end up with enough points for a RTW First award ticket, for a cost of $3500 in transaction fees. Given an AONE4 is about $16,000 these days that makes good sense to me.

 

[cove]

Of course it can get better.
The fees to pay BAS can be tax deductible so take their slice off your cost of doing the payment.

 

[serfty]

Of course it can get better.
The fees to pay BAS can be tax deductible so take their slice off your cost of doing the payment.

No input tax credit for these however as there is no GST payable on this type of fee.

But yes, they can be easily tax deductible.