Whether it’s your yearly income tax, quarterly business activity statements (BAS) or even education debt (HECS-HELP), you might be wondering ‘how do I earn the most points with payments to the Australian Taxation Office?’
There isn’t a set answer – cards and offers keep changing. Many banks now provide zero points on Australian Taxation Office (ATO) transactions, and this is a trend that’s almost universal now.
There are a few cards on the market that do still offer the ability to earn points for ATO transactions – mainly American Express plus some select high-end Mastercard and Visa cards.
In this guide, we reveal the current list of cards that earn points with the ATO, as well as some points-earning alternative payment options.
1. Paying the ATO with a credit card directly
The simplest way to make a tax payment by credit card is to head to the Government EasyPay website. Enter the reference number provided by your accountant or the ATO for your payment, and away you go. It’s not always the most rewarding, though – we’ll explain why further below.
ATO credit card payment fees
When paying the ATO directly using a credit card, you’ll incur a surcharge on the transaction. There’s no way to avoid this without sacrificing the ability to earn reward points. (But even then, you might pay the surcharge only to earn zero points anyway, if your card isn’t eligible. Firstly though, here are the ATO’s current credit card surcharge rates.
| Payment method | Surcharge (as of Dec 2024) |
|---|---|
| BPAY/bank transfer | None |
| Mastercard Debit | 0.20% * |
| Visa Debit | 0.40% * |
| Visa Credit | 0.80% |
| Mastercard Credit | 0.72% |
| American Express | 1.45% |
| Visa/Mastercard international payments | 1.99% |
| * no debit card surcharges from 1 January 2025 |
The surcharge amount is often a tax-deductible expense for a business, but double-check with your accountant or tax advisor for your own circumstances.
Your personal choices might dictate that payment via bank transfer or BPAY makes more sense than incurring a surcharge, so bear that in mind.
Which rewards cards earn points at the Australian Taxation Office (ATO)?
Unfortunately, not many cards in Australia award points for direct payments to the ATO anymore. Here are some of the ones that do:
| Credit Card | Points earned per $ spent | Points cap | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
Most American Express-issued Membership Rewards cards, including:  Amex Essential Rewards Amex Explorer Amex Platinum | 1 Membership Rewards point | Varies by card, but the baseline earn rates of these example products are all uncapped | Check the individual guides for each card in our cards table |
Most American Express direct-earn cards, including:  Velocity Platinum Qantas Ultimate | 0.5 Qantas or Velocity Points | Varies by card, but this baseline earn rate is uncapped on these example cards | Check the individual guides for each card in our cards table |
 CommBank Business Platinum Awards CommBank Business Awards | 1 CommBank Awards point | 300,000 CommBank Awards points per year (Platinum Awards) 60,000 CommBank points per year (Awards) | CommBank Awards terms explicitly permit points earned at the ATO and for Business Transactions up to the points cap. See Section 1.1 of the T&Cs → |
 NAB Qantas Business Signature Visa | 0.66 Qantas Points | 33,000 Qantas points per month | NAB states that payments you make to the Australian Taxation Office will earn you Qantas Points at the same rate as regular everyday business purchases. |
Cards and banks that do not allow points earn for ATO transactions include (but are not limited to):
- ANZ Rewards & Frequent Flyer, Bank of Melbourne, Bank of Queensland, BankSA, CommBank (personal cards), HSBC, Macquarie, NAB (personal cards, Citi-branded cards and white label products including Qantas Money and Virgin Money), Qudos Bank, St.George and most others.
Caveats and disclaimers
- Do your own research by reading the credit card and rewards program T&C documents, asking the relevant bank and comparing your research with other online sources.
- We have tried to make this list as accurate as possible. If we do miss a card, have an error in our calculations or have made a mistake in the research, please let us know in the comments. There is no ranking or endorsement of a specific credit card implied in the above table.
- There are legitimate reasons for having to pay the ATO as either a personal entity or as a business entity. Many banks prohibit unreasonable amounts of business transactions on personal cards. We have tried to note the relevant terms and conditions of different bank rewards programs below.
- We suggest considering a specific business credit card that explicitly permits points earn at the ATO if you have a high volume of business-related transactions.
- Information in this guide is not provided as, or intended as, personal financial advice. Information presented is general in nature and does not consider any of your personal circumstances, financial objectives, business suitability for tax deductions or existing banking relationships/products.
- Things can change – check the date at the top of this guide to see when it was last updated.
2. Using payment processors like Pay.com.au to earn points with the ATO
The list of banks offering points by directly paying the ATO is quite small now. But luckily, there is a way to earn full points on just about any card when paying the ATO and other businesses. The secret is third-party processors such as Pay.com.au, RewardPay, B2BPay, YakPay, and Sniip.
Rather than making a credit card payment directly to the ATO, you can earn the full rate of credit card points by paying a surcharge to those services and having them make the payment to the ATO on your behalf. You might also earn bonus reward points from the processor on top of the transaction points.
Fees for payment processors
Payment fees vary for each provider, depending on a range of factors including transaction size. Expect to pay around 1-2% in processing fees, on average. Fees for American Express payments tend to be the highest – including Sniip, where the rate for ATO payments is now pegged at the business rate of 1.99% + GST, even for personal tax payments.
Pay.com.au fees go as low as 0.80% for Mastercard credit cards, depending on your membership package. Given the ATO charges 0.72% but isn’t eligible for points from most banks, it could make sense to pay a bit more through a payment processor and earn full points on all reward credit cards.
Be sure to run the sums to ensure the points you’re earning are worth more than the surcharge.
Note: Point Hacks is affiliated with Pay.com.au.
3. Working out if the surcharge is worth paying
The credit card surcharge is the key part of figuring out whether to use a points-earning credit card for ATO payments. In short, you want the value of the points earned to be worth more than the surcharge.
The first thing to consider is the value you place on your points. You can check out our list of rewards points values, which might help you. But points might be ‘worth’ more to you if you’re saving up for a big redemption, for example.
Once you have an idea of how much you value a point, you can then place a value on the total number of points earned by paying the ATO with a credit card surcharge. Here is a few simplified examples.
Example 1: It could make sense to pay the ATO surcharge
Say your NAB Qantas Business Visa card earns one point per AU$1.50 spent, and you value Qantas Points at 1.9 cents each. If your tax bill is $6,000, then you’ll earn 4,000 points, which have a value to you of $114.
With the ATO’s surcharge of 0.80% on Visa credit card payments, you are paying $48 to earn the 4,000 Qantas Points. (You’d earn 4,032 Qantas Points once you include the surcharge). In this case, you might consider paying using this credit card.
Example 2: It doesn’t make sense to pay the ATO surcharge
As an alternative example, let’s consider an American Express card that earns a capped 0.5 points per dollar. You’d earn 3,000 Qantas Points on the same ATO bill, which you might at $57 under the same basis as above.
The surcharge of 1.45% means that you’re paying $87 to earn those 3,000 points (well, around 3,043 points, surcharge included) – more than what you valued those points at. In this case, you might consider not paying the bill using American Express. But fear not, because there are alternatives to earning full points with American Express, which we cover in Example 4.
Example 3: It could make sense to use Pay.com.au with Mastercard
This time, you want to use your Qantas Premier Platinum card which earns one point per AU$1 spent. The Qantas Premier Platinum card usually earns no points with the ATO. But if you go via Pay.com.au, for example, you would incur a payment fee of $48 to $60 + GST (equivalent to 0.8 to 1.0% + GST), depending on your plan. The $60 + GST fee is applicable to the free monthly plan.
If your tax bill is $6,000, then you could earn up to 6,060 points (processing fee included), which have a value to you of around $115. The points earned would outweigh the payment charge under that basis, especially if you can claim the processing fee and GST on your tax (see a professional for advice).
In comparison, Sniip charges a flat 1.5% fee for Mastercard (including GST), which comes to a $90 fee for earning a similar number of points. You’d be paying up to $37 more in fees for no extra benefit.
Example 4: It could make sense to use Sniip with American Express
As an alternative example, let’s consider the American Express Qantas Ultimate that earns a healthy 1.25 points per dollar for general purchases (up to 100,000 Qantas Points per calendar year, then 1/$1 thereafter). If you paid the ATO directly, you’d only get 0.5 points per dollar instead. But by going through a payment processor like Sniip, your rewards will multiply.
On a $6,000 bill, the surcharge of 1.99% (2.189% incl GST) means that you’re paying $131.34 (incl. GST) to earn 7,664 Qantas Points (including points earned from the fee), worth around $145 to you. That’s an okay deal, particularly if you put those points toward Business Class and get even more ‘value’.
What to consider when paying a surcharge
Among the things that you might consider before deciding whether a surcharge is worth paying:
- The value you place on the points that you earn with your credit card.
- How many points the credit card you’re planning to use will earn per dollar spent at the ATO.
- The surcharge incurred for using your chosen payment method by the ATO.
However, this analysis does not take into account:
- Any tax deductibility of the ATO payment fee and GST, if applicable.
- The cost of ownership of the credit card, such as its annual fee.
- The cost of any interest incurred for balances you are carrying on the card. The assumption in this guide is that no interest will be paid for your ATO payment. If you are planning on carrying the ATO balance on a card and incurring interest on this balance, then the interest incurred will likely be far higher in cost than the value of the points earned.
- The cost of any applicable subscription fee to Pay.com.au which provides access to the most affordably priced credit card transaction fees.
Summing up
While we can’t recommend specific cards for your circumstances, this guide may help by outlining some of the main options. Paying the ATO directly generally isn’t the best way to earn points anymore, due to the limited range of banks and cards that offer points on ATO payments.
Instead, consider using a third-party payment processor like Pay.com.au or Sniip to make the most of a rewards card. You’ll most likely pay a slightly higher fee, but could earn full credit card points.
Given most of us will probably have to pay significant amounts to the ATO anyway, maximising a rewards-earning credit card is a great way to get rewarded sooner. Just be sure to always check the fees and crunch the numbers first.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I pay my ATO bill?
There are numerous ways to pay an ATO bill. BPAY is recommended for those who don’t want to pay any extra transaction fees, but reward points are not normally earned in this case.
Credit cards will incur a set fee depending on the card type. You could also process payments through a third party mentioned in this article, which would help earn rewards points.
Do you earn points on BPAY?
No, not usually. Most banks and rewards credit cards do not consider BPAY transactions as eligible to earn rewards points.
Does the ATO card payment fee have GST?
According to the ATO website, its own card payment fees are not subject to goods and services tax (GST). However, it may be a deductible expense depending on your circumstances.
Can I pay the ATO with Amex?
Yes, you can use an American Express card to pay the ATO. However, this normally incurs a higher payment fee compared to using an Australian-issued Visa or Mastercard.
Originally published by Matt Moffitt, with updates by Chris Chamberlin. Note that Point Hacks is affiliated with Pay.com.au.
How to earn points on ATO payments was last modified: March 18th, 2025 by
Community Comments
Hi All,
Just getting my head around this!
Has anyone figured out the best value Business Card + Payment Processor COMBO?!
Care to share..?! 🙂
I think it should be clarified that if you are using these services for personal payments such as a tax return or hecs debt, then Pay.com.au is actually supposed to be a B2B (business only) service. Sniip is another service you can use for personal payments. I haven’t used them yet but I’m going to give them a go since I am not eligible to use Pay.com.au
Hi Oliver,
I am considering using Sniip to pay off a HECS debt. How was your experience?
Maths is out on your first example “you value Qantas Points at 1.9 cents each. If your tax bill is $6,000, then you’ll earn 4,000 points, which have a value to you of $114.” (based on 1 QF/$1.50)
4,000 points at 1.9cpp would be $76.
Earn rate of 1 QF/$1 would result in $114 worth of points on a $6k spend.
one thing to consider is if you have an offset mortgage at say 5.5 percent, and you don’t redeem those specific points for one year, the amount you spend in charges to get your points, is effectively an extra 5.5 percent as that money could be offsetting your mortgage , compounding as you delay redemption further. Additionally the ubiquitous reduction in the value of points by the carriers over the years is another factor. Moral of the story is if you are spending money to get points , use the points sooner rather than later
Hi guys,
Wondering if there is a cheaper way to pay for personal bills via EFT using BSB & Account number apart from RewardPay who charge 2.15% for transactions <$20k.
Cheers,
Steffano
If you use these 3rd party sites to pay the ATO bill, do you still pay the CC processing fee to ATO in addition to the 3rd party surcharges?
Generally not. The 3rd party processor will usually incorporate all of its fees into the transaction fee you pay them. They also usually pay via BPay or bank transfer, which doesn’t incur extra fees.
According to what I could find in the Suncorp Rewards Ts&Cs, payments made to the ATO fall under ‘government transactions’ and they are deemed as ‘eligible’ transactions for points. The ATO doesn’t seem to charge for payments made via BPAY, even if it’s paid from a credit card. I read in finder that some cards charge an advance fee for BPAY payments, has anyone successfully paid a large sum to ATO via BPAY who can confirm:
– No extra charges apply from ATO
– No advance fees or other fees are triggered by Suncorp
– Rewards points were debited as per normal
Do we earn points when paying Council Rates? (for Westpac Mastercard)
Very detailed articles. Just need to confirm if my understanding is correct as per examples given in the article and if “It makes sense to pay the ATO surcharge”.
I have Amex Explorer business card – so I’d earn 1 points per $ spent on ATO?
So 6000 points for $6000 tax bill valued at $114
Surcharge of 1.45% means I’m paying $87
I think this guide says that ATO payments using AMEX Platinum will earn points. I wonder if the same applies to AMEX Platinum Business as well. If so, would it also meet the spending limit?
I use the BPAY facility on my NAB Qantas Business Signature Visa to make ATO payments and earn QFF points at the usual rate for purchases 😉
I read some comments around earning points still when paying ATO via BPAY. How does this work? I have the non-business version of the NAB Signature Visa as well as a St George Visa. Keen to understand how this works – would paying via BPAY not attract any ATO fees, even when the underlying card is a Visa credit card?
@ Ben 14/07/20
Noticed only very recently, only in the last quarter (Jan-Mar 2021) that Qantas points earned has totally crashed per dollar value of purchases made on the St George Amplify card.
From simple analysis it could only be that ATO and State Government eligibility for reward point earnings has recently been axed.
So unless i want to jump ship it’s back to BPay for government transactions. Not paying those commission fees without earning points. No doubt other options are out there, but the extra handling costs incurred probably aren’t worth it.
See this story. Seems to confirm my theory.
https://www.australianfrequentflyer.com.au/st-george-axe-points-tax-payments/
Bankwest provide more clarity here: https://www.bankwest.com.au/help/cards/qantas-mastercard-changes about what they mean by government charges. Looks like ATO payments are excluded.
I would like (and expect to see) that level of detail from them in the T&Cs document.
I note St George are listed in the article as not earning points but I am paying ATO tax via the Government EasyPay website and still get the standard 1.5 Amplify points (+ annual birthday bonus) for the bill amount and the credit card fee amount.
Hi Ben, thanks for sharing your personal experiences. I assume you have the Amplify Signature rewards card based on your description of earning 1.5 Amplify Points + Birthday Bonus.
The T&Cs for that card state (under section 4.5): Amplify Points are not earned in respect of the following amounts that may be charged to your Card Account: government charges (other than GST payable in connection with the purchase of goods or services on which you earn Amplify Points).
If you are earning full points on the transaction, then that’s great! However, in our guides, we do have to report on what is written in the T&Cs.
Yes I have the St George Amplify Signature Rewards Card.
I should also point out that other government payments such as council rates do not earn points but somehow, ATO payments do.
Just thought I would post in case others already have the same card and want to test it out for themselves.
I am aware of the T&Cs so I check after each ATO payment in case they stop crediting the points but it has continued to work for me for over 3 years now.
Hi Ben, just ran through an ATO transaction and they didn’t give me points this time 🙁
Says above that the BankWest QF World is invite only? I’m pretty sure it isn’t, unless something’s changed recently, I just canx mine a month ago and I was never invited to apply for it when I took it out.
Hi, thanks for pointing that out. I missed that update in the table and have corrected it now.
Terms and Conditions of BankWest Qantas Rewards dated 1 February 2018 now specifically excludes government charges from reward points.
That is partially correct. See the Notes column of the table as that info is copied directly from said terms and conditions.
Mastercard now 0.52%
Sneaky that they have increased the cost this year. Thank you for letting us know. Guide updated.
BOM business amplify cards also allow ato points to be earned
The card fees quoted in this article are now out of date. A domestic visa credit card fee is now 0.78%, while for mastercard it is 0.4%
You’re right. Updated!
Thanks for letting us know. This should be at the top of the article as so many busy people skin read.
I wont be using my Visa card. Thanks again.
Keith! Great article! Glad you warn at the top that it will take time to digest! It did!
As we have chosen to have low income/ high assets in retirement, I doubt if we could get a credit card to pay ato and get ffpoints. But if we went with Qantas Cash we could get a quarter of our bill back in points? Ie if our bill was $100,000 (it isn’t), we’d get 25,000 points?
Better than nothing!
What do you think?
Remember, Qantas Cash will not earn points on ATO transactions from 1 July 2018:
You still may be able to get a credit card that earns points with the ATO though!
This article needs an update. Points are definitely no longer earned with the Coles Mastercard since Shitibank took over the portfolio in early March.
Thanks Campbell. We’ve updated the guide and removed Coles Rewards.
Great site, and I bought your book today. It’s well written but maths is not my strong point!
We have to pay a HUGE tax bill this year from Capital Gains. I just want a card that will give us the best value in 50 Curedale St Beaconsfield points!
I’m also holding off on booking this year,s round the world trip in case it could be advantageous to pay by a new card.
It’s our sixth RTW but we’ve never bothered to care about points before!
Very grateful for your thoughts! Sxx
Now that Coles is selling the credit cards to Citibank there would not be any points for ATO payments from March 2018!
So does that mean right now we can still get the flybuy points on ATO? before March 2018
yes still does till the changeover
Thank you for the information. It is really a bad news as I have been using my overseas mastercard to pay ATO for long time. Since the rate for AMEX is 1.45%, I guess it will be cheaper if I pay with overseas AMEX card than overseas Mastercard/VISA, right?
Hi Keith.
Thanks for the article. its an excellent summary of all the cards.
I justed wanted to ask 2 Qs:
1. What is the card payment fees for Qantas cash ? is it like a once- off fees?
– lat34 & Samantha- ur help will be appreciated – as u guys hv done it.
2. Is there a similar fees for Velocity Global Wallet card as well ?
Hope 2 c replies soon.
Cheers.
Hassan.
Hey Hassan, I’d suggest checking out the individual guides for Qantas Cash and Velocity Global Wallet for more info on their fees and there is a link to a useful comparison guide in both too.
Thanks Matt.
I’ll have a look and see if it answers my questions.
Cheers.
Hassan.
Hi Hassan,
Qantas Cash is a “prepaid Mastercard” so per the current table, ATO MasterCard surcharge is 0.40% (ie you need to have cashed loaded to cover both the tax payment PLUS the surcharge amount).
Hope this helps.
Oops, just noticed Mastercard debit card surcharge is 0.15% so even better!
🙂
Hi Hassan
I am still experimenting with various ways to pay the ato and get points. I successfully used OnlyVisa gift card but this week ato have stopped accepting them. ( stuck with $500 of Cards!)
I joined Qantas Cash and succeeded in paying $95 to ato today. But now I see I will (eventually) only get one point per every $4. So cheap points but not many! ( And this will all change soon anyway.)
I guess B2Bpay is the best deal, with Amex Explorer. 2 points per $1 but fee of nearly 3%.
Still don’t know if I should pay the two-ish grand to get 120,000 ish points.
My husband says I never use gift vouchers I’ve been given!
And the using of points for upgrades seems like another whole nightmare of learning curve!
Any thoughts?
Savannah x
Coles Reward MC is capped I believe? FlyBuys is uncapped but transfer to Velocity is capped @ 60,030 p.a.
The earning of flybuys from the Coles Rewards Mastercard is uncapped, as you said. To clarify, you can transfer a maximum of 138,000 flybuys points to 60,030 Velocity points per household, per calendar year, however, there is no cap on flybuys transfers to Etihad Guest. I have added a note in the table accordingly. Thanks for ‘pointing’ out (get the pun?)!
I made a ATO Payment through the easy pay portal on a Business American Express Platinum Charge card that up until now was earning points. Seems its not anymore.
I don’t think this table is correct and I’m not sure why you’ve included certain cards on here (not offering ATO payments at all). I spoke with most of these providers today, as I have a $300,000 tax bill to settle and thought I could grab some quick ff’s, but the list of providers that offer points for ATO payments is now tiny. All I could get for QFF, was CBA Business platinum at 0.4 per dollar up to 120,000 per year or the AMEX explorer at 0.5 points, which was not worth the trouble at the surcharge required. C’mon Keith.
Thanks for the feedback. Can you be more specific about the cards on the table for banks that you’ve spoken to which don’t offer points? It’s hard to follow up and make sure we have our info right otherwise. Thanks…
ANZ Black Amex card still providing triple points for payments to ATO.
Very interesting to see their latest offers to convert ANZ Rewards points to Virgin (with bonus). I think their is more value redeeming ANZ Reward points directly for flights as opposed to redeeming for Virgin points and then booking same flights. Any comments on this?
Paid ATO using velocity global wallet late last year and had points successfully post; transactions from early this year didn’t. Followed up with their tech support and, after 2 weeks of waiting, received a response yesterday confirming that they will manually add the points. When I queried whether there was an issue with my account and whether this could happen again (i.e. flagging my waning interest in using the card if getting the points to post each time would be a hassle), I received the following response: “We can confirm there wasn’t any error on your account but we are no longer issuing points for ATO payments and this will be soon updated on our product disclosure statement.”
So, take that as either confirmation that you will get the points (albeit with some legwork) until the PDS is updated, or avoid at all costs……
Thanks Matt – great info, and I have noted this in the guide and table now.
Hi there,
If i have an amex explorer, do i have to use the amex payment platform you describe? Or can i just pay my ato bill directly and still earn points?
Thanks
You can pay your bill directly to the ATO with a 1.45% surcharge but Amex will only issue 0.5 Membership Rewards Gateway points per $ when doing so, or 0.33 frequent flyer points per $ equivalent. Otherwise you can earn 2 MR Gateway points per $ (1.5 frequent flyer points per $) when paying via RewardPay with a 2.4% plus GST surcharge. It’s up to you which route to take.
Perfect. Thanks so much
I used my new AMEX Explorer via RewardPay last week to pay the ATO and they only credited 0.5 MR Gateway points per dollar spent, making that a very costly exercise.
So I rang them to dispute this and was given the line about it being government spend, on the basis that it says REWARDPAY*ATO in the transaction details. I highlighted that my partner’s AMEX Explorer account has always earned the full 2 points on these transactions before, but so far they haven’t budged.
Wonder if it’s worth raising it with RewardPay at all, since their website does sort of imply that you’ll get the full amount of points with their service?
Thank you for such a detailed summary. I just wanted to check if there is there a mistake with the CBA platinum earn rate. I believe as CBA award point converts to 0.5 velocity points rather than 1.5?
Yes, well caught. Copy / paste problem there! Fixed in the table.
I have just successfully earned points on Qantas Cash card for my BAS/ATO payment. Happy! happy! You rock point hacks! Because of your website, in seven weeks time I’m travelling to Moscow Emirates Biz, and after the Trans Siberian rail journey enjoying Cathay Biz home. All by doing what I would do in my normal day to day business operations. Love your work! Thank you x
Thanks for the thanks!
Great article Keith, thank you.
Samantha, can you please advise how you used your Qantas Cash to pay tax? Mine is only allowing to convert currency to currency, card to another Qantas card, or transferring Qantas cash to another of my own bank account. Not any options allowing for tax payments?! Thanks!
Susan it’s not a transfer but a bpay. Have you tried that?
No Samantha as Qantas cash doesn’t have bpay options to transfer out funds (only allows bpay to transfer in funds)- I called them to check.
Please let me know if you have any other tricks, thanks.
Pay the ATO using Mastercard facility of Qantas Cash. This works (to date) for personal tax payments and earns 0.5 Qantas Points per $ (
the card payment fee).
How did this go for you?
Thanks for the guide Keith. Will have a go with it.
Excellent, thank you.
Hi,
FYI. I just got off the phone with AMEX
Can confirm David Jones AMEX and AMEX Platinum Edge do earn points for ATO payments (1 and 0.5 respectively).
Thanks for the article Keith 🙂
Hi Keith
I have just tried to pay my tax using my Qantas Cash card but it rejected because it isn’t a credit card. How do I go about paying using Qantas Cash?
That sounds like a new development – as far as we know it was possible a few months ago. Do you get a specific rejection message from the ATO you could share? Are you using the Easypay portal as well?
What’s the latest on this? Please!
Keith, I have a $385,000 tax bill due mid May. How would you go about it ? Happy to deposit in advance the funds on a small capped card to receive points. Amex or a visa ?I have cards now that will not allow ATO payments.
We can’t give personal advice on which cards to use, but my general approach would be to assess the size of your bill, the cost of the surcharge, and look at how many points you might earn by picking up an ATO points-earning card. If the points earned are enough and outweigh the value of the surcharge of that card then it may make sense to try and go for it. Alternatively, consider the RewardPay route if you can.
Is it possible to use a foreign credit card? e.g. an american card with no forex?
I don’t have any personal experience of this. Best way to try is to test with a small amount and see how it gets processed.
Keith,
Curious as to what qualifies as a business transaction… My wife has AMEX Explorer and ANZ Black cards and is contracted/self-employed. We will need to pay her tax (she is the sole employee and has an ABN) and I’d like to use a card to do so. Does her paying tax for her own business count as a business transaction? Or is it simply just a tax payment by an individual?
Ah, well each bank is different and is not transparent about that definition. American Express don’t exclude business transactions so choose not to define them, but others who do mention a business transaction I think should be clear about that definition, but aren’t. Ultimately it would be up to the banks discretion to decide whether you are using the card for business purposes.
My take would be that if you are paying a personal tax bill, it’s personal, but a business tax bill e.g. for your BAS or IAS, would be a business transaction. That said, the ATO bills through the same portal in either case, so the bank would probably decide more generally whether they thought you were using the card for business or personal purposes. It’s all very grey!
Hi Keith,
Great article.
Considering ANZ’s recent announcement to withdraw all AMEX cards from the bank from August 2017 (others will follow soon), do you think it is wise to convert ANZ points (approaching $1m points) to one of their affiliated programs; ie Velocity?
As a business owner with a trust structure, most of my points are earned paying personal tax debts for myself and other beneficiaries through the ATO EasyPay system. Of course, 4 of these transactions per year relate to business GST (BAS).
I am beginning to get worried ANZ will catch on and relinquish points earned, perhaps only the BAS component.
It would be brilliant to see an article related to how to best convert your points (or just redeem) considering these recent changes.
Thanks in advance.
I think it’s unlikely will devalue the transfer rates of ANZ Rewards over to their partners, although you never know, so the points you hold with them should retain their value. However you are right to be concerned about your use of the card for business transactions as they could just wipe out your balance if they decide you have been using the card against their terms. In which case, Velocity during a 15% bonus promo period (there could be one in May) would what I would look at if I were in your shoes. You can always move them over to KrisFlyer at a later date if your plans dictated that was a better option.
I can confirm recent (23 Nov 2016) personal tax payment to the ATO using Qantas Cash earned 0.5 Qantas Points per $ (including card payment fee).
You’re talking me into it! Thx!
I paid my quarterly BAS on Coles MC on October 25 and got all my points, so I have no idea why this amazing card is not on the list.
Er… I forgot to update when I said I would. I’ll get it done!
Also worth nothing that paying your BAS is a business expense, which the Coles card states aren’t allowed to points earn on the card. Just saying. Worth being aware of, everyone can make their own decisions on how to use their cards – we just aim to inform!
I can also confirm that Coles MC earn flybuys points on ATO payments.
I called Coles MasterCard and they said I would still earn points as long as it was not a boat transaction.
What’s a boat transaction?
Keith, I think you set this all down very clearly. Thanks for your research.
I want to offer another perspective. I have a couple of cards that won’t earn anything for ATO spend. My Amex-issued cards will, and my ATO payments for my quarterly BAS are processed with no quibble.
Whether I use a card that earns points or not, I still have to make that quarterly payment. So for me, I immediately consider can I get something more for it? Let’s face it, the ability to earn a couple of, or even many, thousand lazy points every three months is nothing to be sneezed at.
I could apply for another card, generally at a membership cost of a couple of hundred dollars, in order to save a couple of hundred dollars. But I need to factor in the cost of owning that card for just ATO spend, unless it also provides a very good general points return. And, the effect on my credit rating if I’m applying for yet another premium credit card.
These are all qualitative rather than quantitative concerns, and don’t detract from the very valid points you raise about the cost of earning these points. For me, I find it’s a justifiable expense to spend a little more and get the bonus points, and “save” some time and dollars getting another card that is otherwise not really needed, and leaving my credit rating strong for any particularly compelling deals I see (such as when Amex Velocity Platinum offered a 100,000 point sign-up bonus).
Hi Keith, this month I received an offer of 10,000 bonus altitude points if I used my Westpac Altitude Black American express card to pay the ATO. This is the second time I received such a letter in the mail. It is obviously a targetted offer but if people are considering this card, it is good to know
Wow! Some banks give while others take away. Great to see Westpac understanding this is a benefit to their cards.
there were rumors about the Bank Australia card as well Keith.
Do you know anyone who tested that one?
I have seen the card but haven’t dug into the terms yet. On the list.
What about the Coles MC?
I was under the impression that this had just recently stopped ATO transactions. Looking into it more now though.
Thanks for this guide! What about the Amex qantas ultimate card?
Amex Qantas Ultimate falls into the ‘other Amexes’ line in the table, which earns at 0.5 Qantas Points per dollar spent, and therefore 2.9c per point.
great guide. shouldn’t it be for st george amplify visa, 0.72c/Qantas point. which is actually the best rate on offer. (and excludes birthday bonus)
Thanks Mike. Yes, I think you’re right. Corrected.
Great guide Keith, you’ve covered it well. You’ve missed Qudos, which used to be great, but I see now it will no longer pay on ATO spend from December.
One time it can be worth using a high cost-per-point card to pay the ATO is to meet bonus point minimum spends on a new card.
I thought HSBC platinum card still earns points…. is that wrong?
Unfortunately, yes. That changed earlier this year. According to their terms, ATO transactions are now ineligible for points earn.
Hi Keith
Thanks for the comprehensive article. Do you know if the Qudos bank CC still gives points for ATO payments？
They gave notice to existing cardholders that ATO earn ends from December 1st, and points caps are being applied. Guide/news on this coming tomorrow.