ATO (tax office) payments by credit card

[Cynicor]

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 $.

Sure, but thr payment refund being discussed would only be for direct payments, which have no gst

 

[serfty]

Sure, but thr payment refund being discussed would only be for direct payments, which have no gst

correct ...

 

[squid01]

I have a Victorian land tax bill to pay. Would sniip work to make this a valid spend for the minimum spend for bonus points? On a Westpac Qantas altitude black and a St George platinum cards.

I last used sniip a year ago for ATO, just want to make sure it’s all good for Victorian state revenue office as well before I pump some money in there.

Thanks!

 

[daft009]

Feels good to use GCs on my SMSF ATO payments! Been yonks since I've been able to

 

[prozac]

I have a Victorian land tax bill to pay. Would sniip work to make this a valid spend for the minimum spend for bonus points? On a Westpac Qantas altitude black and a St George platinum cards.

I last used sniip a year ago for ATO, just want to make sure it’s all good for Victorian state revenue office as well before I pump some money in there.

Thanks!

I've just paid some ATO BAS and such via Yakpay. Westpac Black (Mastercard) fee is 0.85%. Goes through as a Bank Transfer via your card.
There is a thread for referrals

 

[squid01]

I've just paid some ATO BAS and such via Yakpay. Westpac Black (Mastercard) fee is 0.85%. Goes through as a Bank Transfer via your card.
There is a thread for referrals

Thank you.

Does anyone have experience specifically with State Revenue Office of Victoria and Sniip? Just nervous to pay a large bill via it and it not count to spend minimum, as I am basing a lot of my points strategy around this.

The landscape hasn’t changed and banks Corrine’s on and haven’t started disallowing sniip as eligible spend?

 

[jbman]

Thank you.

Does anyone have experience specifically with State Revenue Office of Victoria and Sniip? Just nervous to pay a large bill via it and it not count to spend minimum, as I am basing a lot of my points strategy around this.

The landscape hasn’t changed and banks Corrine’s on and haven’t started disallowing sniip as eligible spend?

It’s not the payer that is the issue. It would be Sniip that gets flagged.

At this stage any payment I have made to anyone has worked via Sniip.

If concerned just call Sniip. They are super helpful and based in Brisbane

 

[prozac]

Thank you.

Does anyone have experience specifically with State Revenue Office of Victoria and Sniip? Just nervous to pay a large bill via it and it not count to spend minimum, as I am basing a lot of my points strategy around this.

The landscape hasn’t changed and banks Corrine’s on and haven’t started disallowing sniip as eligible spend?

If it is a long term strategy then try one payment to see if it works.

 

[Flyerwin]

I've been using my Amex to pay big bills like ATO, SRO, school fees etc for a while now. Makes a difference.

 

[mugpink]

Anyone have any experience getting the ATO to transfer a credit balance to their bank account?

Pre-paid a debt that I knew I would be up for (FY22 return) using coles gift Mastercards and it’s turned out I owed a couple of K less so have a credit balance sitting there. Likely to be any issue with getting this refunded?

Hi NoName,

May I check if you had sorted this out ? I got ~ 10k as a credit balance sitting in my tax account and couldn't figure out how to get it paid to my bank account. I've thrown all the original Coles giftcards away . Thank you!

 

[albyd]

The ATO under the guise of "fighting money laundering" have been withholding credits until there's enough tax payable to offset them. I think they eventually will entertain a refund depending on the persuasiveness of your accountant. It not longer works as a place to turn these back into cash for a low fee.

Might be an example of not over-using a method as it will be noticed eventually and shut down.

Coles MC GCs are an example - they don't want to sell >10 per person per day. I managed to buy more than this for a few days. I've been unable to buy anymore - even by changing my card numbers. I'll need to find somewhere else to source them or go back to BPay with cash. Shame as I've heard ATO has recently lifted the 5 payments per day cap and they aren't charging a processing fee on these GCs when used for payment.

 

[NoName]

Hi NoName,

May I check if you had sorted this out ? I got ~ 10k as a credit balance sitting in my tax account and couldn't figure out how to get it paid to my bank account. I've thrown all the original Coles giftcards away . Thank you!

Have not been successful in having this refunded to me despite supplying proof of purchase of the gift cards, proof of the source of my funds used to purchase and offer of statutory declaration attesting to the circumstances around the payments, disposal of gift cards etc. They have no legal basis to hold the funds but claimed it was “illegal” to refund to anywhere other than the original source. I asked them to provide me with the specific piece of legislation that prohibits this and of course the couldn’t. They eventually admitted there was nothing preventing them processing a refund other than their own internal policies. When I pointed out that the majority of people likely never incur a tax debt, meaning that in many/most cases the funds would never be drawn down on and therefore could in theory sit in the account as a credit balance forever I was met with silence. They simply have no response to that ludicrous scenario.

The main frustration you will face is never being able to talk to anyone with any real authority to do anything. You will only ever be in contact with call centre staff or low level complaints investigators. Suspect you may have more luck if you’re prepared to go to court over it but that will take up even more of your time.

 

[albyd]

And going to court will cost money in legal fees which would outweigh the likely reason for using the Coles MC GC as a payment source. You're fighting the government which likely has more financial resources than you do to fund endless litigation.

 

[kookaburra75]

Have not been successful in having this refunded to me despite supplying proof of purchase of the gift cards, proof of the source of my funds used to purchase and offer of statutory declaration attesting to the circumstances around the payments, disposal of gift cards etc. They have no legal basis to hold the funds but claimed it was “illegal” to refund to anywhere other than the original source. I asked them to provide me with the specific piece of legislation that prohibits this and of course the couldn’t. They eventually admitted there was nothing preventing them processing a refund other than their own internal policies. When I pointed out that the majority of people likely never incur a tax debt, meaning that in many/most cases the funds would never be drawn down on and therefore could in theory sit in the account as a credit balance forever I was met with silence. They simply have no response to that ludicrous scenario.

The main frustration you will face is never being able to talk to anyone with any real authority to do anything. You will only ever be in contact with call centre staff or low level complaints investigators. Suspect you may have more luck if you’re prepared to go to court over it but that will take up even more of your time.

Have you spoken with your local Federal Member of Parliament? I have had success when going down that path when we had a sizeable R&D rebate tied up for no visible reason. We even got a verbal apology from the ATO for the unexplained delay.

 

[georgie23]

Hi NoName,

May I check if you had sorted this out ? I got ~ 10k as a credit balance sitting in my tax account and couldn't figure out how to get it paid to my bank account. I've thrown all the original Coles giftcards away . Thank you!

I just am in process of moving to new accountant and when I logged into my ATO portal (I never do it) I saw there is a 10K credit balance sitting there as well - I wonder if the ATO is keeping a little buffer up their sleeve - I am a sole trader so wondering if that is part of new "internal policy"

 

[mugpink]

Have not been successful in having this refunded to me despite supplying proof of purchase of the gift cards, proof of the source of my funds used to purchase and offer of statutory declaration attesting to the circumstances around the payments, disposal of gift cards etc. They have no legal basis to hold the funds but claimed it was “illegal” to refund to anywhere other than the original source. I asked them to provide me with the specific piece of legislation that prohibits this and of course the couldn’t. They eventually admitted there was nothing preventing them processing a refund other than their own internal policies. When I pointed out that the majority of people likely never incur a tax debt, meaning that in many/most cases the funds would never be drawn down on and therefore could in theory sit in the account as a credit balance forever I was met with silence. They simply have no response to that ludicrous scenario.

The main frustration you will face is never being able to talk to anyone with any real authority to do anything. You will only ever be in contact with call centre staff or low level complaints investigators. Suspect you may have more luck if you’re prepared to go to court over it but that will take up even more of your time.

Sad to hear! Here are the two options I found after some research:

• Adjust this form (https://www.allianzretireplus.com.a...documents/forms/Withholding_Tax_Form_2018.pdf) - vary the tax offset and send back to my employee so that they will withhold less of the tax each paycheck
• Applying for PayG witholding variation directly with ATO (PAYG withholding variation application | Australian Taxation Office) ?

Have you tried any of these ?

 

[NoName]

Have you spoken with your local Federal Member of Parliament? I have had success when going down that path when we had a sizeable R&D rebate tied up for no visible reason. We even got a verbal apology from the ATO for the unexplained delay.

Sad to hear! Here are the two options I found after some research:

• Adjust this form (https://www.allianzretireplus.com.a...documents/forms/Withholding_Tax_Form_2018.pdf) - vary the tax offset and send back to my employee so that they will withhold less of the tax each paycheck
• Applying for PayG witholding variation directly with ATO (PAYG withholding variation application | Australian Taxation Office) ?

Have you tried any of these ?

Thanks for these suggestions. If I’m ever in a similar situation I will definitely consider those.

Where I’m at currently is that the amount has been drawn down slowly over the last almost 2 years and now only approx $1,100 (was only $2k to begin with) and likely to be completely drawn down when I lodge my FY24 return in the next few months. So motivation to bother with these is minimal as you can imagine.

I still have a complaint pending with the inspector general where I have noted the constant stream of lies told to me - illegal to refund to a different source, balance will be paid to you as part of your FY23 refund, you will be paid interest, etc - and general incompetence of “front line” ATO staff so will see what happens. At this point it is just ensuring I’m actually compensated for the time wasted and for having my money withheld from me for no reasonable reason.

 

[mugpink]

Thanks for these suggestions. If I’m ever in a similar situation I will definitely consider those.

Where I’m at currently is that the amount has been drawn down slowly over the last almost 2 years and now only approx $1,100 (was only $2k to begin with) and likely to be completely drawn down when I lodge my FY24 return in the next few months. So motivation to bother with these is minimal as you can imagine.

I still have a complaint pending with the inspector general where I have noted the constant stream of lies told to me - illegal to refund to a different source, balance will be paid to you as part of your FY23 refund, you will be paid interest, etc - and general incompetence of “front line” ATO staff so will see what happens. At this point it is just ensuring I’m actually compensated for the time wasted and for having my money withheld from me for no reasonable reason.

Lucky you ! Don't expect a positive outcome from the Inspector General. I've completed that path and they just sent out a long report indicating the only option is to refund to the original payment method (gift cards), completely ignoring other complaints (wrong promise/ incorrect advice from ATO staff...)

 

[NoName]

Definitely not expecting anything from them. They contacted me late last year and appeared just as clueless as the ATO. Simply mentioned the ATO policy of not refunding to a different source and ignoring everything else. Plus a total waste of time as he indicated they have no ability to compel the ATO to do anything in the way a regular ombudsmen does for other industries.