I have heard of people using the Qantas Cash card to make payments to the ATO in order to accrue QFF points. More recently this got a mention in Point Hacks.
http://www.pointhacks.com.au/ato-points-earning-cards/
Has anyone here tried this? I personally haven't and am waiting for those sign up bonuses to pop up before I give it a shot.
You have to figure out how much you value a QFF point
1) If you have a flight or redemption that you would use, price it at the maximum amount that you would pay for it
i.e. a business class flight that you would only spend a max of $2000 cash for
2) Find the number of QFF points to redeem this flight/item
i.e. 80,000 QFF points
3) Work out how much you value each point
i.e. 2000/80000 = 2.5c per QFF point
4) Find out the CC surcharge and find out the points earn for your chosen payment method
i.e. 0.54% Visa/MC surcharge
i.e. 0.5 QFF per $1 ATO spend (Qantas Cash)
6) Work out the cost to 'earn' one QFF point
i.e. Surcharge amount + ATO payment / QFF points earned
Obviously if the cost to earn 1 QFF point is more than how much you value a point then it's not worth it
Everyone values QFF differently because some people redeem for gift cards whereas others will redeem for 1st class suite flights
Also if the ATO payment is for business purposes like a BAS payment then the surcharge can be tax deductible too which will make it 'cheaper' to earn each point
the surcharge is worth more than the value of the points.