topic Re: How many credit cards can I use to pay my taxes? in Credit Cards

How many credit cards can I use to pay my taxes?

355F1 — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 18:38:39 GMT

Trying to make some minimum spends for sign up bonuses.

Someone said I can only use 2 credit cards per year.

I am self-employed and always pay my income taxes on CCs but never more than one per year.

I have 5 cards I’d like to split the $45k tax bill over. (Yes, I am paying in full after the charge hits the card and before the statement).

Re: How many credit cards can I use to pay my taxes?

wasCB14 — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 18:40:23 GMT

@355F1 wrote:
Trying to make some minimum spends for sign up bonuses.

Someone said I can only use 2 credit cards per year.

I am self-employed and always pay my income taxes on CCs but never more than one per year.

I have 5 cards I’d like to split the $45k tax bill over. (Yes, I am paying in full after the charge hits the card and before the statement).

Federal? Or which state(s)?

Re: How many credit cards can I use to pay my taxes?

355F1 — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 18:43:23 GMT

Federal is $40k, state is $5k (AZ).

I’m talking about the federal part being split up.

Re: How many credit cards can I use to pay my taxes?

Anonymous — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 18:47:17 GMT

You'd probably have to decide if the fees are worth it?

https://www.irs.gov/payments/pay-taxes-by-credit-or-debit-card

Re: How many credit cards can I use to pay my taxes?

wasCB14 — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 19:02:58 GMT

@355F1 wrote:
Federal is $40k, state is $5k (AZ).

I’m talking about the federal part being split up.

I use pay1040 federally, and see nothing that would prevent a user from making multiple payments for a single quarter using different cards. That said, I don't think I've ever used more than one card per taxing authority per quarter, or more than two cards per taxing authority per year.

@Anonymous wrote:
You'd probably have to decide if the fees are worth it?
https://www.irs.gov/payments/pay-taxes-by-credit-or-debit-card

OP is doing minimum spend. The fees are small compared to the bonuses.

Re: How many credit cards can I use to pay my taxes?

Anonymous — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 19:13:30 GMT

@wasCB14 wrote:
@355F1 wrote:
Federal is $40k, state is $5k (AZ).

I’m talking about the federal part being split up.
I use pay1040 federally, and see nothing that would prevent a user from making multiple payments for a single quarter using different cards. That said, I don't think I've ever used more than one card per taxing authority per quarter, or more than two cards per taxing authority per year.

Looking at https://www.irs.gov/payments/frequency-limit-table-by-type-of-tax-payment

it looks like the IRS imposes restrictions on number of payments (2 per year for 1040, 2 per quarter for 1040ES). I don't think things like pay1040 let you split a single payment across multiple cards, so you would likely run into this limit

Re: How many credit cards can I use to pay my taxes?

wasCB14 — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 20:24:19 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@wasCB14 wrote:
@355F1 wrote:
Federal is $40k, state is $5k (AZ).

I’m talking about the federal part being split up.
I use pay1040 federally, and see nothing that would prevent a user from making multiple payments for a single quarter using different cards. That said, I don't think I've ever used more than one card per taxing authority per quarter, or more than two cards per taxing authority per year.

Looking at https://www.irs.gov/payments/frequency-limit-table-by-type-of-tax-payment

it looks like the IRS imposes restrictions on number of payments (2 per year for 1040, 2 per quarter for 1040ES). I don't think things like pay1040 let you split a single payment across multiple cards, so you would likely run into this limit

So that does offer some flexibility, but requires a lot of advanced planning...if not prescience about future promotions.

I'm happy with my BBP. One payment per authority per quarter, and all are easy to track.

Re: How many credit cards can I use to pay my taxes?

Anonymous — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 20:30:51 GMT

My first thought was, "How many cards have you got?"

This is, afterall, the government we're talking about.

Re: How many credit cards can I use to pay my taxes?

Anonymous — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 20:44:32 GMT

Not worth it due to the fees for using a CC.

What’s the spending amount you want to do for the bonuses?

Re: How many credit cards can I use to pay my taxes?

wasCB14 — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 20:56:13 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Not worth it due to the fees for using a CC.

What’s the spending amount you want to do for the bonuses?

A rather broad statement. BofA has a 2.625% travel credit card (with $100k in assets). I get 2x MRs with a minimum cash value of 1.25 cpp (2.5%). There are others.

Re: How many credit cards can I use to pay my taxes?

355F1 — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 21:42:47 GMT

LoL.....actually the fees are worth every penny, dude.

Using CC's to maintain status with airlines is a helluva lot cheaper than meeting the airline's spending requirements.

I am self-employed and use CCs to pay my taxes every year to meet $25k spending thresholds.

But I recently opened 5 new cards to achieve about 250,000 Miles, PLT status waiver for Delta by reaching $25k in spend on one of ym DL AMEX cards, and $3,000 EQDs for AA for spending $25k on the Barclay Aviator Card, which will allow me to maintain top-tier Executive platinum with AA. I take a vacation every month and travel the world more than any normal human being should. haha

Prior to this year I put $60k+ on my Delta AMEX Reserve ($40k limit), but I am moving my monthly vacation travel to all One World and AA over the next year so I will be shifting all spend to my AA cards after 2017.

1.87% is worth every penny if you're doing it for spending thresholds--miles, not so much.

I just read on my flyertalk forum that you can use each Federal-approved tax payment company 2 times per year. So I might have to use 2 different companies to get this spread over 4 cards, and use one card for my state payments tomorrow

Re: How many credit cards can I use to pay my taxes?

Anonymous — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 21:42:10 GMT

Ah! Ok then lol. Thanks for the Explanation!

Re: How many credit cards can I use to pay my taxes?

wasCB14 — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 21:45:11 GMT

@355F1 wrote:
LoL.....actually the fees are worth every penny, dude.

Using CC's to maintain status with airlines is a helluva lot cheaper than meeting the airline's spending requirements.

I am self-employed and use CCs to pay my taxes every year to meet $25k spending thresholds.

But I recently opened 5 new cards to achieve about 200,000 Miles, PLT status waiver for Delta by reaching $25k in spend on one of ym DL AMEX cards, and $3,000 EQDs for AA for spending $25k on the Barclay Aviator Card.

Prior to this year I put $60k+ on my Delta AMEX Reserve ($40k limit), but I am moving my monthly vacation travel to all One World and AA over the next year so I will be shifting all spend to my AA cards after 2017.

1.87% is worth every penny if you're doing it for spending thresholds--miles, not so much.

I just read on my flyertalk forum that you can use each Federal-approved tax payment company 2 times per year. So I might have to use 2 different companies to get this spread over 4 cards, and use one card for my state payments tomorrow

Maybe you mean twice a quarter for estimated payments? Or two payments accompanying a return per year?

Taking the bolded statement literally would mean you could only make 2 payments of any sort per service per year...and I've exceeded that "limit".

Re: How many credit cards can I use to pay my taxes?

355F1 — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 21:56:47 GMT

Taken from flytertalk.com:

There are three services to pay your U.S. federal taxes:
pay1040.com 1.87% fee on credit
payUSAtax.com - 1.97% fee on credit
Officialpayments.com/fed - 2.00% fee on credit.

In general, you're allowed 2 payments per processor above per type of tax (annual and quarterlies being 2 different types, for example). They're not billed as cash advance fees. If 6 payments is not enough to pay your bill you can use a service such as plastiq (2.25% fee).

Re: How many credit cards can I use to pay my taxes?

Anonymous — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 22:30:19 GMT

Go to the IRS website, they have 3 different payment methods. The terms and conditions are on the front page. I used my Amex card for a hefty tax bill. Didnt use more than one card but I remember that there was a mention of how many payment that can be made and what not. its nice that they count this as a purchase!! Good luck!

Re: How many credit cards can I use to pay my taxes?

wasCB14 — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 22:58:22 GMT

@355F1 wrote:
Taken from flytertalk.com:

There are three services to pay your U.S. federal taxes:
pay1040.com 1.87% fee on credit
payUSAtax.com - 1.97% fee on credit
Officialpayments.com/fed - 2.00% fee on credit.

In general, you're allowed 2 payments per processor above per type of tax (annual and quarterlies being 2 different types, for example). They're not billed as cash advance fees. If 6 payments is not enough to pay your bill you can use a service such as plastiq (2.25% fee).

My guess is the wiki means to say each quarter is a different "type" of tax, separate from each other quarter.

I have posted on FT seeking clarification.

Re: How many credit cards can I use to pay my taxes?

355F1 — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 23:44:55 GMT

I’m going to try five different cards to pay my federal tax bill tomorrow.

I’ll post my results.

Re: How many credit cards can I use to pay my taxes?

Anonymous — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 23:46:42 GMT

Yes, do let us know. Curious here :-)

Re: How many credit cards can I use to pay my taxes?

355F1 — Mon, 16 Apr 2018 03:01:18 GMT

Just finished paying my 2017 1040 taxes owed online with my CCs.

I want to confirm that the IRS allows 2 payments per processor per year.

Please see the screenshots below when I tried to make a 3rd payment at each of the websites

Re: How many credit cards can I use to pay my taxes?

simplynoir — Mon, 16 Apr 2018 02:26:41 GMT

Thanks for the datapoints. Very useful to have.