Strategy to obtain US Amex

[pyramidforce]

The OzBargain posts on these deals usually have the best data points: 4000 Bonus Flybuys Points on $250 Coles Mastercard Gift Cards ($7 Purchase Fee Applies) @ Coles (In-Store Only)

I think I've had a look there, I don't recall anyone having the same issue. They report that these cards work to ATO.

Also not working for Sniip or revolut...

 

[levelnine]

I think I've had a look there, I don't recall anyone having the same issue. They report that these cards work to ATO.

Also not working for Sniip or revolut...

Sounds like the issue is with your cards then. Have you checked the balance to make sure they aren't already wiped?

 

[pyramidforce]

Sounds like the issue is with your cards then. Have you checked the balance to make sure they aren't already wiped?

Yes, still full balance. Only transaction history shows all the failed transactions I tried to make.

Support numbers not working. Oh well, it was never meant to be easy

 

[Igreen]

Yes, still full balance. Only transaction history shows all the failed transactions I tried to make.

Support numbers not working. Oh well, it was never meant to be easy

Did you subtract the fees from the total amount i.e. paying ATO say 24x+GC fees = $250. So you are paying ATO $24X

 

[pyramidforce]

Yes I pay 249.50 +0.5 surcharge is 250. I even tried 249.49 etc it doesn't work.

I thought HSBC fraud had somehow ninja reversed the transactions somehow or something, but got off the phone with them, all good. Just the coles card doesn't work.

Support number not working as expected. I guess this is a tale of buyer beware

Edit: tried second of 5 cards. Looks like they all don't work

 

[cathalm8]

Yes I pay 249.50 +0.5 surcharge is 250. I even tried 249.49 etc it doesn't work.

I thought HSBC fraud had somehow ninja reversed the transactions somehow or something, but got off the phone with them, all good. Just the coles card doesn't work.

Support number not working as expected. I guess this is a tale of buyer beware

Edit: tried second of 5 cards. Looks like they all don't work

I successfully used coles $250 mastercard gift cards to pay ATO earlier this year and was planning to again..

 

[djchuckles]

Im confused, ho we did you even get to that page without uploading your documents?

Mine are all uploaded but not submitted to IRS yet.

I pushed them again (they previously told me everything was submitted). And now their other two documents say uploaded and the Documents Sent to IRS now shows a green tick

 

[Grrr]

Does anyone pay their ATO/BAS via a US Amex ?

Do you come out ahead after paying the spread etc ?

Or is Aus Platinum at 2.25x with Sniip etc and their fee, then transferring points to US Amex work out better ?

 

[Uncharted6264]

Does anyone pay their ATO/BAS via a US Amex ?

Do you come out ahead after paying the spread etc ?

Or is Aus Platinum at 2.25x with Sniip etc and their fee, then transferring points to US Amex work out better ?

What is the theoretical constraints on this? Assuming Qantas points as an equalizer:

1.125 QF @ 2.1% fee Yakpay + 1 pt per $10 rewards (Amex plat AU)

1.5QF/USD = ~1 QF/AUD @ 1.45% fee direct pay ATO (AMEX Plat. Biz on purchases over 5k USD)

On 100k AUD:

AUAmex = (100,000*.021)/(1.125*100,000 + 100,000/10) = 0.0171
USAmex = (100,000*.0145)/(1 * 100,000) = 0.0145

But if you assume 1% spread, 0.3% FX fee on something like Wise:
(100,000*.01+100,000*.003+100,000*.0145)/(1 * 100,000) = 0.0275

Has the spread reliably been 1%, though? Because that seems to be what kills it. Swear I've seen in this thread it can be much lower than that. Still - you'd have to get spread down to 0.25% and repayment FX fee to 0 to get it to be on par with AU Plat Amex.

I was hoping something like the C1 Venture X @ ~1.33333 QF/AUD would be a smart idea but the % Fees for ATO direct pay are close to 2% Other payment details | Australian Taxation Office . Yakpay is no-go for Intl. cards either.

Basically not worth it as far as I can see.

 

[Grrr]

1.125 QF @ 2.1% fee Yakpay + 1 pt per $10 rewards

After tax my processing fee is more like 1.05%, so I guess that pushes it even more in favour of Au Plat Amex

 

[Uncharted6264]

After tax my processing fee is more like 1.05%, so I guess that pushes it even more in favour of Au Plat Amex

Your processing fees for the foreign cards are likely just as dedictible so it would probably just push them down by the same amt? (I think Yakpay's fees are quoted sans-GST as well, right)

This is a shame I hadn't sat down and done the math for paying tax with foreign CC's, I thought that was going to be an easy win! Can't find a situation where it works.

NAB Biz Black Qantas Credit (Can't remember the exact name) is actually the best pick for AU taxes right now in terms of dollar per point value...
(0.0080*100,000)/(0.66666666*100,000) = 0.012

But only up to 50k AUD per statement period

 

[velli25]

Does sniip etc allow US AMEX to be used? I've used my green card on pay rewards and was told I can't use international AMEX's but they will allow it as a once off.

RE ATO payments I've read you can use your US AMEX to pay the ATO directly and it'll count towards SUB (?)

 

[Uncharted6264]

RE ATO payments I've read you can use your US AMEX to pay the ATO directly and it'll count towards SUB (?)

Wouldn't surprise me - not much doesn't count towards SUB for US, different ballgame to AU. In fact I can probably confirm, I did put 1k on my US AMEX for the ATO directly just to test it out and I got the SUB.

Does sniip etc allow US AMEX to be used? I've used my green card on pay rewards and was told I can't use international AMEX's but they will allow it as a once off.

Not sure about SNIIP but Yakpay allows AMEX at the same fee - complete blowout for intl. MC and Visa tho, 3%

 

[levelnine]

Yes, ATO spend will count towards a SUB on a US Amex card.

And the best play is to use your ATO spend towards a SUB for such a card (or, even better, multiple SUBs).

 

[itsjackson]

Just update on my 2nd Amex application. After being told I wouldn't get the SUB applying over the phone, I tried to apply for the gold through the Resy referral link and was PUJ'ed as well.

So I put some charges through my green card and after a couple days tried again and surprisingly no PUJ! However, I didn't enter a valid SSN and needed to call up to change this to my passport number after I received the outcome email. They also needed me to verify my name and address, but were unable to get through to HSBC. After a couple calls, the agent instead verified me by calling my Tello number and approved my Gold card - yay!

I figured I might be out of PUJ now, so I tried to apply for the Brilliant over the phone since I saw I could apply for them both on the same day, but after half hour of going through the application, I was told that I wouldn't get the SUB. Might need to wait a bit to apply for the Brilliant then.

 

[sudoer]

I didn't enter a valid SSN

What did you enter...?

 

[blacksultan]

What is the theoretical constraints on this? Assuming Qantas points as an equalizer:

1.125 QF @ 2.1% fee Yakpay + 1 pt per $10 rewards (Amex plat AU)

1.5QF/USD = ~1 QF/AUD @ 1.45% fee direct pay ATO (AMEX Plat. Biz on purchases over 5k USD)

On 100k AUD:

AUAmex = (100,000*.021)/(1.125*100,000 + 100,000/10) = 0.0171
USAmex = (100,000*.0145)/(1 * 100,000) = 0.0145

But if you assume 1% spread, 0.3% FX fee on something like Wise:
(100,000*.01+100,000*.003+100,000*.0145)/(1 * 100,000) = 0.0275

Has the spread reliably been 1%, though? Because that seems to be what kills it. Swear I've seen in this thread it can be much lower than that. Still - you'd have to get spread down to 0.25% and repayment FX fee to 0 to get it to be on par with AU Plat Amex.

I was hoping something like the C1 Venture X @ ~1.33333 QF/AUD would be a smart idea but the % Fees for ATO direct pay are close to 2% Other payment details | Australian Taxation Office . Yakpay is no-go for Intl. cards either.

Basically not worth it as far as I can see.

Can try applying for curve card for better spread .

 

[Ko0l]

How are you guys claiming tax deductions on business purchases paid through the US credit cards?

The accountant must be miserable going through the credit card statements that is in USD.

 

[Uncharted6264]

How are you guys claiming tax deductions on business purchases paid through the US credit cards?

The accountant must be miserable going through the credit card statements that is in USD.

Depends on size of your business & your setup, Xero handles all of this automatically

But even if you are on the smaller side, spreadsheet + convert to AUD = easy, as far as I can see?

 

[Uncharted6264]

Can try applying for curve card for better spread .

Not going to lie I can't investigate this properly right now but it looks 1 Way more complex 2 Potential to be way more expensive 3 Negates the fact many of these US cards don't have FX fees

At a very sceptical first glance all I see is fee shifting/hiding... Mind giving me an example how you use it practically for a better outcome?

Also - "Access to fair conversion rates up to X per month?" What do they do after that, give you access to unfair conversion rates? ahaha


Also unconfirmed but chat says that their is some weird gamified spread-rate that I'm not prepared to deal with



I love the idea of a single "card" that is a credit card proxy. I've wanted something like that for ages.