Credit card payments provider ipaymy has extended its promotional 1.75% fee for income tax payments through to the end of 2021, allowing you to generate miles from as little as 1.07 cents each, even if you’re still awaiting this year’s Notice of Assessment from IRAS.
The rate of 1.75% represents a 22% discount on the usual 2.25% fee when you use your credit card to pay bills through ipaymy.
There’s also a two-time 1.89% fee offer in August to celebrate Singapore National Day, for any payment type using a locally-issued Visa, Mastercard or UnionPay credit card.
Income tax offer
If you use ipaymy to pay your income tax bill between now and 31st December 2021, you’ll be eligible for the discounted fee using the TAX2021 promo code.
The offer is subject to the following terms and conditions:
- One-time payment to IRAS only
- Charge date is on or before 31st December 2021
- One use per account
- Valid for any Singapore-issued Visa, Mastercard or UnionPay credit card
- Code cannot be retroactively claimed
There is no upper cap on the tax amount paid under this promotion, however if you have a particularly large tax payment to make, do contact the ipaymy team via support@ipaymy.com for a special concession rate.
The offer is available to both new and existing ipaymy personal account holders. Simply use the promo code TAX2021 at the ‘Payment Details’ stage.
| TAX2021 |  |
 |
1.75% | |
| One-time IRAS income tax payment with a Singapore-issued Visa, Mastercard or UnionPay credit card. | ||||
CLICK HERE to sign up to ipaymy
Remember this is a one-time use promo code, so to maximise the value you should pay your annual tax as a single lump sum where possible.
CardUp has also recently extended its income tax payment offer with a 1.75% fee, or 2.4% for Amex cardholders, which is now valid for payments due by 7th September 2021.
Cost per mile
Here’s how the all-important cost per mile looks for some popular Visa and Mastercard credit cards issued in Singapore.
You can refer to the latest full list of cards awarding points and miles for ipaymy transactions here.
| Card | Miles per S$1 | Cost per mile (1.75% fee) |
 UOB Reserve |
1.6 | 1.07¢ |
 Citi ULTIMA |
1.6 | 1.07¢ |
 UOB PRVI Miles MC/Visa |
1.4 | 1.23¢ |
 Standard Chartered Visa Infinite |
1.4* | 1.23¢* |
 Citi Prestige |
1.3 | 1.32¢ |
 OCBC Voyage Visa |
1.3 | 1.32¢ |
 DBS Altitude Visa |
1.2 | 1.43¢ |
 Citi PremierMiles |
1.2 | 1.43¢ |
 OCBC 90ºN |
1.2 | 1.43¢ |
 KrisFlyer UOB |
1.2 | 1.43¢ |
* 1.4 mpd subject to a minimum spend of S$2,000 in the same statement cycle, otherwise 1 mpd. ipaymy payments do count towards the minimum.
As you can see even with one of the widely-held 1.2 mpd cards like the DBS Altitude Visa and Citi PremierMiles options, an effective cost per mile of 1.43 cents is competitive.
For those lucky enough to have 1.6 mpd earning cards, the cost per mile drops to an excellent 1.07 cents.
How to pay
Once you’ve set up your income tax payment through the ‘Tax’ section of the ipaymy dashboard, you’ll be able to enter the TAX2021 promo code at the ‘Payment Details’ stage.
Once applied, you should see the fee drop from 2.25% to 1.75%. In the following example an income tax payment of S$10,000 now carries a fee of S$175 (1.75%) instead of S$225 (2.25%).
Make sure you schedule your tax payment payout date at least five working days before the due date of your tax bill with IRAS, to ensure the funds are reconciled in time.
What about recurring tax payments?
If you’re paying your income tax by monthly GIRO arrangement you can still use ipaymy to settle the instalments using the 1.89% recurring payment promotion, which automatically kicks in when you set up a recurring payment for 3 months or longer.
You’ll have to keep your GIRO arrangement in place with IRAS, then schedule each payment at least five working days before the due date. IRAS will then skip the deduction from your bank account for that month.
We would recommend taking advantage of the 1.75% one-time income tax payment code to make your first monthly payment, then set up the recurring payments at the 1.89% rate, for the best savings.
Let’s take a look at how that would work for a S$12,000 income tax bill, settled using the 1.4 mpd UOB PRVI Miles card.
| Sep 2021 | Oct 2021 – Aug 2022 |
Total | |
| Repayment | S$1,000 | S$1,000 x11 |
S$12,000 |
| ipaymy Code | TAX2021 | Automatic | |
| ipaymy Fee | S$17.50 (1.75%) |
S$18.90 (1.89%) x11 |
S$225.40 |
| Miles Accrued | 1,421 | 1,421 x11 |
17,052 |
| Cost per mile | 1.32¢ | ||
In this example you’re still buying miles at a competitive rate of 1.32 cents each, while retaining the ability to settle your income tax on a monthly basis, which may better suit your finances and budgeting.
Before you make a decision on miles earning with your income tax payment this year, be sure to check out our detailed and continually updated analysis of the options available across all the providers, since there are some great deals to be had this year depending on which cards you hold.
1.89% fee for one-time payments
If you make up to two payments (i.e. a single one-time payment or two separate one-time payments) through ipaymy anytime during August 2021 and apply promo code MAJULAH189, settled using a Singapore-issued Visa, Mastercard or UnionPay credit card, you’ll be eligible for a competitive 1.89% rate for these transactions.
Obviously the bigger the payment, the bigger the saving, so if you have several transactions to make this month – try to save the code for the most expensive two!
| MAJULAH189 | |
|
1.89% | |
| Up to two payments in August 2021 with a Singapore-issued Visa, Mastercard or UnionPay credit card. | ||||
There’s no upper transaction limit for this code, but the charge date must be on or before 31st August 2021 to qualify.
Simply set up your payment as normal using ipaymy, then at the final (fourth) step (the ‘Complete Your Payment’ stage), enter the promo code MAJULAH189 in the ‘Coupon Code’ section.
Once the code is entered the discount will be applied, as shown above.
Here are some cost per mile examples for Singapore-issued credit cards under this promotional deal at the 1.89% rate:
| Card | Miles per S$1 | Cost per mile (1.89% fee) |
| UOB Reserve |
1.6 | 1.16¢ |
| Citi ULTIMA |
1.6 | 1.16¢ |
| UOB PRVI Miles MC/Visa |
1.4 | 1.32¢ |
| Standard Chartered Visa Infinite |
1.4* | 1.32¢* |
| Citi Prestige |
1.3 | 1.43¢ |
| OCBC Voyage Visa |
1.3 | 1.43¢ |
| DBS Altitude Visa |
1.2 | 1.55¢ |
| Citi PremierMiles MC/Visa |
1.2 | 1.55¢ |
| OCBC 90ºN |
1.2 | 1.55¢ |
| KrisFlyer UOB |
1.2 | 1.55¢ |
* 1.4 mpd subject to a minimum spend of S$2,000 in the same statement cycle, otherwise 1 mpd. ipaymy payments do count towards the minimum.
All of these are competitive rates to buy, we value KrisFlyer miles at 1.9 cents each (our upper limit to buy), and actually achieve around 2.4 cents per mile when we redeem, based on well over 1 million miles burned over recent years, even assuming current redemption rates.
New to ipaymy?
If you’re a new ipaymy customer, or you’ve signed up for an account but have yet to make your first payment using the platform, there’s another promo code you should be aware of first before you dive in with your IRAS tax payment or the August promo code – our special reader offer.
The MAINLY178 promo code gives you a one-time discounted fee of 1.78%, but it must be your first ever payment using ipaymy, so ideally you can use it for something other than income tax before taking advantage of the TAX2021 code, which is available to both new and existing customers.
Summary
Good news if you still haven’t received your IRAS Notice of Assessment, with ipaymy now offering its 1.75% fee for payments by credit card through to the end of the year.
If your bill is falling due soon, this certainly won’t be a bad option for you to take advantage of, though if you have a Citi credit card, do be aware of Citi’s excellent PayAll offer running through till 31st August 2021.
Income tax aside, ipaymy also has a competitive 1.89% rate on either one or two payments of any type this month, which could be a cheap miles earning opportunity for a range of other payments.
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(Cover Photo: Alex Knight)