ATO (tax office) payments by credit card

[Duffa]

T and C say no "govt charges"

These Govt charges refer to the old FID and BAD etc, which were largely abolished following the introduction of the GST.

 

[Mattyana2003]

So ATO is not a govt charge?

 

[DeKa]

So ATO is not a govt charge?

No, it's a payment to a government agency.
It's no different to paying your car registration fee. That has always earned points .. is that a "government charge"? No.

 

[Deleted User]

So ATO is not a govt charge?

I believe it to be a payment, not a charge, hence should be no issues unless ATO is exclusively mentioned as not qualifying for points

 

[wafliron]

These Govt charges refer to the old FID and BAD etc, which were largely abolished following the introduction of the GST.

While I agree that this was probably the original intention of such words being in CC T&Cs, as I've been saying for a some time the definition of a "government charge" is ambiguous, and it's naive to think that CC issuers won't use this ambiguity as a way to wiggle out of awarding points for ATO payments.

Citibank have (unfortunately) recently vindicated that point of view - deciding to take a broader interpretation of "government charges" to include payments to the ATO* and hence not awarding points. No other CC issuer seems to have followed suit yet - but I fear the operative word here is "yet".

* Note that I'm not just inferring this from the fact that Citi have stopped awarding points for ATO transactions. A copy of an e-mail from a Citi CSR to an AFFer, posted in the separate thread about Citibank and points for ATO transactions, specifically refers to the "government charges" part of their CC T&Cs as the reason that points are no longer awarded.

EDIT: I'd add: What I'm really trying to say above is that we can argue semantics all we like, but we're sticking our heads in the sand if we don't acknowledge that there is ambiguity, and that said ambiguity provides an avenue for CC providers to stop awarding points for ATO payments if they wish. Much better / easier for them to just explicitly ban points for ATO payments, but if they want to go about it in an underhanded way (like Citibank did), it does give them a way to do it.

 

[Danger UXB]

Just a minute. Westpac points to sq is 2 points to 1 kris mile. Is anz 3 point to 1 kris mile ? If so there Amex visa combo do not sound so good. Can the anz users please confirm.
cheers danger uxb

 

[oz_mark]

EDIT: I'd add: What I'm really trying to say above is that we can argue semantics all we like, but we're sticking our heads in the sand if we don't acknowledge that there is ambiguity, and that said ambiguity provides an avenue for CC providers to stop awarding points for ATO payments if they wish. Much better / easier for them to just explicitly ban points for ATO payments, but if they want to go about it in an underhanded way (like Citibank did), it does give them a way to do it.

There may be ambiguity for Citibank, but some other issuers do define what they mean by government charges, and they generally use the more conventional interpretation of things like stamp duty etc....

 

[wafliron]

There may be ambiguity for Citibank, but some other issuers do define what they mean by government charges, and they generally use the more conventional interpretation of things like stamp duty etc....

Fair enough - all the CC T&Cs I've read have not defined "government charges", but that's a handful out of a lot!

 

[Duffa]

it's naive to think that CC issuers won't use this ambiguity as a way to wiggle out of awarding points for ATO payments.

I couldn't agree more. It's perfectly ambiguous.
I haven't seen the email from CSR but I'm not surprised.
I much prefer the Amex definition; with Govt bodies such as ATO etc specifically mentioned.

 

[deluxeflyer]

Just a minute. Westpac points to sq is 2 points to 1 kris mile. Is anz 3 point to 1 kris mile ? If so there Amex visa combo do not sound so good. Can the anz users please confirm.
cheers danger uxb

Confirmed, unfortunately.
3 ANZ = 1 KF.

 

[cove]

Ok get the scissors for ANZ!

 

[angusburns]

Depends on what ANZ card you get.

ANZ Rewards does not look too good.

ANZ Frequent Flyer Platinum looks OK for Amex (1.5 per $) but not Visa (0.5 per $) but only works for Qantas.

But don't take my word for it - check it out yourself...

Credit Card Comparison - Compare ANZ Credit Cards | ANZ

 

[cgichard]

Just a clarification: I wasn't promoting the ANZ Rewards combo, just responding to Mattyana2013 who thought the option to add an Amex to existing ANZ Visa was closed.

I want SQ points, not QF, and for reasons explained elsewhere I am stuck with the card I have and am no longer eligible, it appears, for most others.

 

[Ny770]

So guys....
Bottom Line....
What is the best card that allows you to pay all fees from government and ATO???? and best earn rate???

 

[Newk]

So guys....
Bottom Line....
What is the best card that allows you to pay all fees from government and ATO???? and best earn rate???

I have a piece of string here. Would you like to guess how long it is?

Edit to add

 

[Deleted User]

I have a piece of string here. Would you like to guess how long it is?

Edit to add

How Long Is A Piece Of String? (Documentary) - YouTube

 

[Jack_OC]

* Note that I'm not just inferring this from the fact that Citi have stopped awarding points for ATO transactions. A copy of an e-mail from a Citi CSR to an AFFer, posted in the separate thread about Citibank and points for ATO transactions, specifically refers to the "government charges" part of their CC T&Cs as the reason that points are no longer awarded.

That's curious, as I would have thought Citi would be on much safer ground by relying on the fact that their T&Cs defines an eligible transaction as a "Retail Purchase". I don't think any objective person could claim paying income tax is a retail purchase (much as it pains me to say that!)

 

[Jack_OC]

So guys....
Bottom Line....
What is the best card that allows you to pay all fees from government and ATO???? and best earn rate???

I’m trying to answer the same question. My current thinking is it’s my Westpac Altitude Platinum Plus Amex, which earns 3 altitude points per dollar, and Altitude points convert 2:1 to Velocity, KrisFlyer or Enrich. According to current info, that card still pays points on ATO transactions just like any other transaction. So for a $100k tax bill with this card, you would get 150,000 FF points in any of those programs, for a fee of $1,450 (tax deductible if you preload the card in credit before you pay).

The best Mastercard or Visa options that I’m aware of (Altitude Black or CBA Diamond) earn only 1.25 points per dollar and convert at the same rate of 2:1, i.e. you get 0.625 FF points per dollar on the above-mentioned programmes, albeit at a lower fee. For a $100k tax bill with one of those cards, you would get 62,500 FF points, for a fee of $480. So a lower fee, but also much fewer points. Hence as thing stand my plan is to use the Altitude PP Amex for my forthcoming bill, unless someone has a better suggestion.

 

[amaroo]

IIRC a CBA Dia AMEX still earns 1.5/$ spend including ATO ....... or, is this balls-up?

 

[angusburns]

Well, I was looking at this exact question earlier today. With the Westpac Black Altitude, you get more points with Amex, but they cost more per point than with Mastercard.

So... If you need the points, pay with Amex, but if you have lots of points and/or lots of ATO payments, or just don't like spending more money that you have too, pay with Mastercard - 25% more points per $ spent on ATO CC fees.


eg ATO $100,000 bill

Amex gives 1.5 ATO costs 1.45% so $1,450, gives 150,000 points
so 1.0345 points per cent of ATO fee or 0.966 cents per point

MCard gives 0.625 ATO costs 0.48% so $ 480, gives 62,500 points
so 1.3021 points per cent of ATO fee or 0.768 cents per point

Citibank gave 1.3 costs 0.48% so $ 480, gives 133,000 points
so 2.77 points per cent of ATO fee or 0.36 cents per point - twice as cheap as the Mcard option above - too good a deal to last, unfortunately.

hope this helps.

PS: $1 = 2 Westpac points, 2 Westpac points = 1 FF point on any airline that they transfer to (Singapore, Velocity, Cathay etc) so I just worked on $1 = 1.5 or 0.625 FF point and ignored the Westpac 2 for 1 in, 1 for 2 out conversion in the middle.