If you’re a property owner in Singapore, one bill you’ll receive each year from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) is your property tax charge, payable on a progressive percentage scale based on the annual value of your property.
Statements are sent out in December each year, and the payment is due by 31st January, which for this year means you have just a couple of weeks from now to settle this sometimes sizeable bill.
This can be a good opportunity to earn additional miles using your credit card to make payment via one of the card payment companies, and this year both of the major providers are offering a discounted 1.75% fee when you settle this charge.
CardUp and ipaymy 1.75% fee for property tax payments
Here’s how CardUp and ipaymy’s property tax payment promotions look this year.
2024 Property Tax payment promos
 |
 |
| PROPTAX24 | PTAX175 |
| Fee: 1.75% | Fee: 1.75% |
| One-time payment New & Existing users S$10,000 cap Singapore Visa cards Charge by 5 Feb 2024 Terms |
One-time payment New & Existing users No cap Singapore Visa cards Charge by 31 Jan 2024 Terms |
Essentially the deals are identical, except that CardUp’s promotional 1.75% fee is only valid for the first S$10,000. Any amount over S$10,000 then attracts the regular 2.6% fee.
ipaymy’s offer has no upper cap imposed, so it’s likely the one to go for if you have a very sizeable property tax bill.
Note that both providers are restricting the offer to Singapore-issued Visa cards. A full list of eligible miles-earning cards for these providers is available at the following links:
Cost per mile
Here’s how the all-important cost per mile looks for some popular Visa credit cards issued in Singapore.
2024 Property Tax payment promos
Cost per mile
| Card | Mpd | Cost per mile (1.75% fee) |
 Citi ULTIMA |
1.6 | 1.07¢ |
 DBS Insignia |
1.6 | 1.07¢ |
 UOB Reserve |
1.6 | 1.07¢ |
 DBS Vantage |
1.5 | 1.15¢ |
 UOB PRVI Miles Visa |
1.4 | 1.23¢ |
 SCVI |
1.4* | 1.23¢* |
 UOB VI Metal |
1.4 | 1.23¢ |
 DBS Altitude Visa |
1.3 | 1.32¢ |
 OCBC 90ºN Visa |
1.3 | 1.32¢ |
 OCBC Voyage Visa |
1.3 | 1.32¢ |
 Citi PremierMiles Visa |
1.2 | 1.43¢ |
 SC Journey Card |
1.2 | 1.43¢ |
* For SCVI 1.4 mpd is subject to a minimum spend of S$2,000 in the same statement cycle, otherwise 1 mpd. CardUp and ipaymy payments do count towards the minimum.
Even with one of the widely-held 1.2 mpd cards like the Citi PremierMiles Visa, an effective cost per mile of 1.43 cents is quite competitive.
For those lucky enough to have 1.6 mpd earning cards, the cost per mile drops to an excellent 1.07 cents.
Note: UOB excludes payments with the descriptor “IPAYMY” in its credit card T&Cs, but does not exclude ipaymy as a merchant itself. ipaymy states UOB cards do still earn miles and reader reports confirm this. ipaymy is still honouring its points guarantee for payments made with UOB cards.How it works
Both CardUp and ipaymy have a self-explanatory user interface for setting up payments, just be sure to input the promo code at the appropriate stage, as shown below.
Note that for CardUp the regular 2.6% fee shows initially, but once you proceed to the payment stage the discount will be reflected. For ipaymy the discount will be reflected once you press the ‘Apply’ button alongside the Promo code field.
In both cases you will also have to upload your IRAS property tax statement, to verify the payment.
OCBC cardholders alternative
If you’re an OCBC Voyage or 90°N cardholder who is new to CardUp, or you have a CardUp account already but have yet to schedule or make a payment using the platform, there’s a better deal for you for a first time payment in any category, including property tax.
- OCBC Voyage: 1.5% fee (no cap)
- OCBC 90°N: 1.5% fee (S$10,000 cap)
These deals allow you to buy miles from 0.92 cents to 1.15 cents each.
Full details are available in our article here.
Citi PayAll alternative
If you’re a Citi cardholder, the bank’s PayAll facility has an ongoing deal running from now until 29th February 2024, offering 1.8 mpd on all payments, provided the total from all payments made through the facility is between S$8,000 and S$120,000 (in total aggregate spend) during the promotion.
Like CardUp and ipaymy, Citi PayAll can be used to pay expenses like property rental, education bills, income tax, insurance and of course property tax too.
This allows those with the following cards to buy miles at 1.22 cents each during the promotion, which in some cases is better than these CardUp and ipaymy 1.75% deals, depending on which cards you hold.
| Card | Earn rate | Cost per mile (2.2% fee) |
 Citi ULTIMA |
1.8 mpd |
1.22¢ |
 Citi Prestige |
1.8 mpd |
|
 Citi PremierMiles |
1.8 mpd |
|
 Citi Rewards |
1.8 mpd |
The downside of course is that you’ll need to have at least S$8,000 of total payments to make by the end of February 2024 to benefit, while these CardUp and ipaymy deals are good for smaller payment amounts too.
Summary
For the next couple of weeks you can settle your property tax bill using your credit card via CardUp or ipaymy at a 1.75% fee, allowing you to buy miles from 1.07 cents each with the right credit card on this often significant annual bill.
The two offers are largely identical, except that those with a very high property tax bill of more than S$10,000 to pay will likely be swayed to the ipaymy deal, which is uncapped.
Selected OCBC cardholders who are new to CardUp should instead consider a 1.5% fee offer, while Citi PayAll’s 1.8 mpd deal is also part of the mix, so as always – do the maths first before committing.
(Cover Photo: Supplied)