Business owners can now pay their tax by credit card and potentially gain reward points in the process. The ATO will accept tax payments of between $10 and $50,000 and to make a credit card payment you will need:
• a current Visa, MasterCard or American Express card
• your ATO electronic funds transfer code or your payment reference number EFT code or PRN to use
the Government EasyPay website or telephone service.
A card payment fee applies to transactions made using this service. This fee is not subject to goods and services tax (GST) and is equal to the fee the ATO incurs from its banker. The fee is a percentage of the tax amount being paid, based on the type
of card being used:
• Visa/MasterCard (effective from 1 October 2011) 0.48%
• American Express (effective from 1 August 2012) 1.45%
You will be informed of the fee amount and transaction totals before you are asked to confirm your payment. You may be eligible to claim a tax deduction for card payment fees and Government EasyPay. Your payment needs to reach the ATO on or before its due date and transactions entered on a weekend, national public holiday or after 6pm Sydney time will be processed on the next business day.
The Government EasyPay service will provide a receipt for both the tax payment and the card payment fee. The details will be displayed as ‘ATO payment’ and ‘Card payment fee – ATO’ on the
cardholder’s statement.
To make a credit card payment online go to the Government EasyPay service –
https://www.optussmartpay.com/governmenteasypay-ato/
This is a secure site provided to the ATO by the Reserve Bank of Australia using the Optus Smartpay service and if you want to make your payment using the Government EasyPay self help telephone service phone 1300 898 089.
While paying your tax by credit card and earning reward points sounds very inviting, you need to make sure you then pay your credit card on time every time because interest rates on credit cards with most major banks are still in the vicinity of 19% per annum. One slip up could totally offset the value of the reward points you might earn.
