Originally Posted by Family flyer
I'm not sure why this topic is discussed so much each year because the math is straightforward. If you owe, say, $5,000, you pay $124.50 and get 10,000 miles with a double-miles offer. Would you pay $124.50 for 10,000 miles - 1.24 cents/mile? If yes, do it; if not, don't.
The reason why I posted this is because...
1. You can technically pay more than you owe in taxes and get it all back from the IRS in a month or two after you file. So techinically you can get as much mile as you want if you want to pay the 2.5% fee.
2. The 2.5% fee may not sound so bad if you are trying to get 180,000 miles for a first class ticket to asia (which is usually around $12,000 on JAL). As oppose to about $4,500 that you are paying in fees.
The only problem is that I will have to pay $180,000 before I get my money back and its quite risky! And I doubt amex will let me charge that much though once!