Paying Tax with Credit Card (AmEx)

Bargain-er on 27/02/2019 - 19:54

Hi,

I need a little advice :) I'm planning to pay my tax (ato) with my credit card. Amex Essential in particular so i can earn sime points. So far i always paid tax off with cash. However, surprisingly amex charge 1.45% while visa/mastercard is about 2.7% additional. Any advice if i better to pay off with cash or use my amex? I read somewhere that amex essential rewards worth 0.7c per point? Thanks very much

Financial American Express Credit Card

Comments

  • crashloaded on 27/02/2019 - 20:18

    It's only worth paying the fee if the points are worth it to you.

  • Trung on 27/02/2019 - 20:21

    Assuming you pay off your amex before incurring any interests, based on just the information you've got there, then it would only be worth using the amex if you earn more than 2.0714.. points per $1 spent.

  • electriccurio on 27/02/2019 - 22:09
    +5

    That is wrong info, 2.7% is only for visa/mastercard INTERNATIONAL. It is not worth the points if you don't use the AMEX explorer+edge combo and use a service like b2bpay.com.au. AMEX has specific point earning exclusion for 'government' charges.

  • Tech5 on 28/02/2019 - 01:09

    At this point in time it is not worth it with the upcoming devaluation which is basically a 50% cut in points for some cards. You are essentially going to get 25% of the points at this stage for a 1.4% surcharge.

    In fact I just paid a BAS bill today of roughly $12000. If I had paid with my Amex, I would have 3000 frequent flyer points for a $170 credit card fee. Not worth it.

  • JIMB0 on 28/02/2019 - 08:12
    +3

    Isn't there a loophole where you use a credit card to buy iTunes cards then pay your taxes with them.

    • Bargain-er on 28/02/2019 - 08:15

      Thanks all for all the advice. I never read we can pay tax with itunes. That s very interesting. Thanks

      • Ryanek on 28/02/2019 - 09:27
        +3

        He was joking, paying taxes with iTunes is currently a scam that is going round.

  • Blue Suby on 28/02/2019 - 10:34

    I thought paying govt. dept's with AMEX didn't allow you to get points (on some of the others (Black card) you earn 0.5 points. Feel free to correct if i'm wrong.

  • trashcan on 28/02/2019 - 14:36
    -5

    Buy Westfield Gift Cards using your Amex and pay your tax bill at the post office

    • sghetti on 06/05/2019 - 14:48
      +1

      Get it right, it's Apple iTunes Gift Cards.

  • CLoSeR on 30/04/2019 - 12:03

    No it's not worth it; unless the fee is really small I tend to only use AMEX for fee free transactions which fortunately are becoming more common.

  • trashcan on 05/05/2019 - 23:03
    -2

    With all the changes to AMEX Rewards, The only thing that is remotely viable is buying Westfield Gift Cards ($2.95 Fees on Cards up to $995.00) and then paying your tax bills using the gift card at the post office. Would not recommend if you have a big tax bill…. (I cannot figure out why I was down voted for my earlier comment on the same lines)

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