It’s been a great year for those of you settling your income tax bill by credit card to earn extra miles in 2020, with some of the most competitive deals we’ve ever seen from the card payment providers and the banks themselves.
One of those is our Mainly Miles reader offer with CardUp, allowing you to make this one-time payment for a fee of just 1.75% using most Singapore-issued Visa and Mastercards. This was initially for payments made by 23rd June 2020, then extended to 25th August 2020.
The promotion has been extended further
We know that some of you are still waiting on your IRAS Notice of Assessment to come through, so the good news is the CardUp offer isn’t going away so quickly.
The team have kindly extended our offer code for two more months, so it’s now valid until 26th October 2020, for payments due on or before 29th October 2020.
No card exclusions
When this offer was first launched by CardUp it was not applicable for Citi or Standard Chartered credit cards, which instead had a 2.25% fee using the GET225 promo code, however these restrictions were lifted in June 2020.
That means you can continue to use any Singapore-issued Visa or Mastercard when making your payment and still enjoy the discounted rate.
Payments must be scheduled by 26th October 2020.
| MM175TAX20 |  |
 |
1.75% | |
| One-time IRAS income tax payment with a Singapore-issued Visa or Mastercard. | ||||
Full terms and conditions for the promo code can be found here.
This offer has the potential with some 1.6 mpd local earn rate cards to allow you to ‘buy’ miles of 1.07 cents each, a market-leading rate.
Even general spend cards at lower rates, like the UOB PRVI Miles Visa (1.4 mpd) come in at 1.23 cents per mile in cost terms.
What about the MM189TAX20 and MM199TAX20 codes?
If you used our first CardUp promo codes in early May 2020, with 1.89% or 1.99% fee rates, don’t worry.
The CardUp team should already have been in touch with you to offer additional discounts to make up for the difference in the fee you paid already, compared to the latest 1.75% special reader rate.
Cost per mile
Here’s how the cost per mile stacks up for some popular miles-earning Visa and Mastercard credit cards in Singapore.
| 2020 Income tax payment Visa / MC via CardUp (MM175TAX20) |
||
| Card | Miles per S$1 | Cost per mile 1.75% fee |
 Citi ULTIMA |
1.6 | 1.07¢ |
 UOB Reserve |
1.6 | 1.07¢ |
 SCVI |
1.4* | 1.23¢* |
 UOB PRVI Miles |
1.4 | 1.23¢ |
 OCBC Voyage |
1.3 | 1.32¢ |
 Citi PM |
1.2 | 1.43¢ |
 X Card |
1.2 | 1.43¢ |
 KrisFlyer UOB |
1.2 | 1.43¢ |
 DBS Altitude Visa |
1.2 | 1.43¢ |
 HSBC VI |
1.0 | 1.72¢ |
* 1.4 mpd earn rate for the SCVI card is subject to a minimum spend of S$2,000 in the same statement cycle as your income tax payment. The income tax payment does count towards the minimum.
How to pay
The process is straightforward, to pay your income tax bill first select the ‘Taxes & Stamp Duty’ icon.
You then need to enter your payment amount as per the outstanding tax balance as shown in your IRAS Statement of Account.
Remember paying through CardUp is a one-off tax payment offer, so you won’t be able to pay IRAS by monthly GIRO instalment this way.
Next you’ll have to select your tax due date. Note that specific fixed periods are used each month depending on your IRAS bill due date to allow your payment to be processed in sufficient time, as explained here.
Your payment reference number is automatically pulled from the NRIC number registered on your CardUp account. This prevents any erroneous payments to the wrong tax accounts not tied to your own NRIC.
You are also required to upload an up-to-date copy of your Statement of Account, showing your Name, NRIC, Outstanding balance and date of outstanding balance for CardUp to verify your payment.
Finally it’s the all-important PROMO CODE, where you can enter MM175TAX20 for Visa and Mastercard payments.
Remember you’ll be looking to use the following promo code when making your payment if you can:
Other income tax payment methods
Before you take the plunge with CardUp, there are a number of other methods for earning miles when paying your income tax by credit card, some of which offer a lower cost per mile and/or offer you the flexibility of monthly GIRO payment.
Our guide will help you navigate to which option is best value for the credit cards you hold, including using some of the bank’s own direct payment methods, which can also make sense in some cases.
Other CardUp offers
CardUp has also recently extended some of its offers for other personal payment types:
- General Payments:
2.6%2.25% extended until 31st December 2020 (code GET225) - Rent:
2.6%1.9% extended until 31st December 2020
While for business users:
- Commercial Rent:
2.6%0.9%* extended until 31st July 2020 (then 1.9% available until 31st December 2020) - Supplier Invoices:
2.6%1.45%* extended until 31st July 2020 - Business Taxes:
2.6%1.45%* extended until 31st July 2020
* No card rewards offered with these rates
See CardUp’s pricing page for further details.
ipaymy
One of the options you’ll see in the full analysis of the best value income tax payment options for 2020 is ipaymy. That payment provider also launched its 2020 income tax payment offer with the same fee of 1.75% for both new and existing users, plus removed its card exclusions recently, allowing all Visa and Mastercard payments to be eligible.
| TAX2020 | |
|
1.75% | |
| One-time IRAS income tax payment with a Singapore-issued Visa or Mastercard. | ||||
This offer has been extended to 31st August 2020.
CLICK HERE to sign up to ipaymy
Summary
Good news from CardUp with an extension to our reader offer for a 1.75% fee when making your income tax payment. Just a reminder, the company already removed previous card exclusions, unlocking all Singapore-issued Visa and Mastercards as part of the offer.
Though CardUp doesn’t support monthly GIRO payments to IRAS, if you usually pay by one-time instalment then it’s an option well worth considering.
Do check what the best deal is before committing to a specific card or provider. We’ve also outlined some factors to consider other than just the cost per mile in our annual comprehensive analysis of options for your income tax payment.
Links on Mainly Miles may pay us an affiliate commission.
(Cover Photo: Shutterstock)