We’re well off topic for this thread but as a point of order, none of the “gimmicks” are requirements for (multiple) AmEx (NLL) accounts. Some people consider the SUB, which is often quite generous, possibly along with the annual airline fee credit and 25% or 35% MR refund to be sufficient justification(s) for the (sometimes hefty) AF and essentially ignore the “gimmicks”.

Getting back on topic, I’ve been lucky enough to have been approved for 6-8 Biz Plats and 4-6 Biz Golds in the past 2.5 years. For all but 2 of those accounts the minimum SUB spend was met entirely via estimated tax payments, usually IRS for plats and NYS for golds. (1 account minimum spend was year end charitable donations, 1 was organic spend over 2-3 months.)

During those 2.5 years: payUSAtax 7 times and Pay1040 4 times; all counted toward (qualified for) the SUB minimum spend, most recently in March 2023. In June 2023 a payUSAtax payment counted as the minimum spend for a biz plat retention offer.