ATO (tax office) payments by credit card

[dxwell]

I’ve been buying these and loading $500 on each to pay tax off. Bit of work, but good Qantas points haul + Amex velocity points across 3 accounts.

10x Everyday Rewards Points on Vanilla Mastercard Gift Cards ($5.95/$7.95 Purchase Fees Apply) @ Woolworths (In-Store Only)

Deal: 10x Everyday Rewards Points on Vanilla Mastercard Gift Cards ($5.95/$7.95 Purchase Fees Apply) @ Woolworths (In-Store Only), Store: Woolworths, Category: Other

www.ozbargain.com.au

 

[albyd]

Have you found any stock? A Woolies I visited last night had $50 & $100 MC (higher value were gone) and 2 maximum load visa though they’re not part of the promotion. Seems the early bird gets the worm as they say.

 

[dxwell]

None on the shelves. Went to the service desk and asked. There was 2 there at the service desk. Asked the person to check behind the display and there was 50 odd in a box. Easy. Back again tomorrow.

Post automatically merged: Thursday at 10:54 PM

I went at 1pm.

 

[Captain Halliday]

This is an interesting development:

Australians illegally charged billions of dollars in merchant fees by federal government

For those who can’t access the link, the key part is this:

Legal advice provided to Finance Minister Katy Gallagher has confirmed that Commonwealth laws prohibit the government from collecting payment surcharges when people pay a tax or fee.

The Australian Taxation Office now charges a 0.4 per cent merchant fee for Visa debit cards and 0.2 per cent for Mastercard debit cards.

Laws will be introduced on Monday to retrospectively make these surcharges legal. However, the government will put an end to surcharges on debit card payments for services at the Tax Office and Services Australia from January 1 next year.

Charges for the use of credit cards to pay for government fees and services will remain.

 

[MARTINE]

This is an interesting development:

Australians illegally charged billions of dollars in merchant fees by federal government

For those who can’t access the link, the key part is this:

Legal advice provided to Finance Minister Katy Gallagher has confirmed that Commonwealth laws prohibit the government from collecting payment surcharges when people pay a tax or fee.

The Australian Taxation Office now charges a 0.4 per cent merchant fee for Visa debit cards and 0.2 per cent for Mastercard debit cards.

Laws will be introduced on Monday to retrospectively make these surcharges legal. However, the government will put an end to surcharges on debit card payments for services at the Tax Office and Services Australia from January 1 next year.

Charges for the use of credit cards to pay for government fees and services will remain.

Now they do it!..

 

[serfty]

I preseme TAX is not a fee or service.

Charges for the use of credit cards to pay for government fees and services will remain.

 

[Captain Halliday]

I preseme TAX is not a fee or service.

Sadly, no.

And they’ve also ruled out a retro audit to refund merchant fees paid to date.

 

[lilkid28]

Sadly, no.

And they’ve also ruled out a retro audit to refund merchant fees paid to date.

I'm ok with that. All my used $250 prepaid cards are in the bin... If they did a refund to these cards, I'll feel bad!

 

[FrequentFlyer85]

I'm ok with that. All my used $250 prepaid cards are in the bin... If they did a refund to these cards, I'll feel bad!

Surely they could easily just add up the surcharges a taxpayer had paid and refund the total as a credit to their income tax account?

 

[lilkid28]

Surely they could easily just add up the surcharges a taxpayer had paid and refund the total as a credit to their income tax account

I wouldn't mind!

 

[Warragul]

Surely they could easily just add up the surcharges a taxpayer had paid and refund the total as a credit to their income tax

That w wouldn't work where someone other than the taxpayer paid the bill. Eg Husband using his card to pay wife's bill.

 

[albyd]

Agree the $250 MC GC will cheaper to use now. I’m wondering that now part of the business case for these cards will be broken whether they’ll keep having regular ‘sales’. It’s already hard enough to use them with the 5x a day payment limit with the ATO in their ever constant battle to fight ‘money laundering’.

 

[FrequentFlyer85]

That w wouldn't work where someone other than the taxpayer paid the bill. Eg Husband using his card to pay wife's bill.

Sure it would. The tax is due and payable by the taxpayer, and it's the taxpayer who was forced to pay the surcharge (illegally, it turns out) in order to be able to pay that amount by debit or credit card.

The fact that the card used to pay the tax + surcharge was in someone else's name isn't relevant as far as the ATO is concerned (provided the transaction was not fraudulent etc). The payment was made on the taxpayer's behalf. The taxpayer and the card holder would have their own separate arrangements (e.g. husband and wife or others with shared finances, or using someone's card and repaying them in cash, in which case they presumably would have repaid the full amount including surcharge, and so would be entitled to any surcharge they overpaid).

The Visa and Mastercard scheme rules also don't seem to be a barrier, as the ATO has long accepted payment of PAYG/tax liabilities by card and included overpaid PAYG amounts as a credit on the tax account, and refunded any overpayment following assessment to a bank account.

 

[MARTINE]

Sure it would. The tax is due and payable by the taxpayer, and it's the taxpayer who was forced to pay the surcharge (illegally, it turns out) in order to be able to pay that amount by debit or credit card.

The fact that the card used to pay the tax + surcharge was in someone else's name isn't relevant as far as the ATO is concerned (provided the transaction was not fraudulent etc). The payment was made on the taxpayer's behalf. The taxpayer and the card holder would have their own separate arrangements (e.g. husband and wife or others with shared finances, or using someone's card and repaying them in cash, in which case they presumably would have repaid the full amount including surcharge, and so would be entitled to any surcharge they overpaid).

The Visa and Mastercard scheme rules also don't seem to be a barrier, as the ATO has long accepted payment of PAYG/tax liabilities by card and included overpaid PAYG amounts as a credit on the tax account, and refunded any overpayment following assessment to a bank account.

I always added the surcharge to my tax bill as cost of business expenditure so a deduction.
Hence, I was paying half with the deduction but a refund would have been nicer

 

[drross]

I always added the surcharge to my tax bill as cost of business expenditure so a deduction.
Hence, I was paying half with the deduction but a refund would have been nicer

Same here

 

[serfty]

Same here

Along with the GST part as input tax credits (when using indirect methods).

 

[306]

Along with the GST part as input tax credits (when using indirect methods).

I can't find the tax ruling, but there is no GST on ATO payment surcharges, as the underlying supply is GST free, so is the surcharge

 

[Warragul]

Sure it would. The tax is due and payable by the taxpayer, and it's the taxpayer who was forced to pay the surcharge (illegally, it turns out) in order to be able to pay that amount by debit or credit card.

The fact that the card used to pay the tax + surcharge was in someone else's name isn't relevant as far as the ATO is concerned (provided the transaction was not fraudulent etc). The payment was made on the taxpayer's behalf. The taxpayer and the card holder would have their own separate arrangements (e.g. husband and wife or others with shared finances, or using someone's card and repaying them in cash, in which case they presumably would have repaid the full amount including surcharge, and so would be entitled to any surcharge they overpaid).

The Visa and Mastercard scheme rules also don't seem to be a barrier, as the ATO has long accepted payment of PAYG/tax liabilities by card and included overpaid PAYG amounts as a credit on the tax account, and refunded any overpayment following assessment to a bank account.

I think the critical word there is presumably. In most cases you'd be right, be legally can an entity issue a credit (in lieu of a refund) to someone other than that who a actually paid it? I don't know.

 

[Cynicor]

I can't find the tax ruling, but there is no GST on ATO payment surcharges, as the underlying supply is GST free, so is the surcharge

Possibly confusing the gst component of the payment processor fees (sniip etc).

 

[serfty]

Possibly confusing the gst component of the payment processor fees (sniip etc).

There is no confusion. I was referring to.oayment services.

Most banks simply won't do reward points on government payments. Others may award a reduced amount, such as one Amex product which returns ½ point per $.