Thanks for reposting.

Hi Guys,

I had full intentions of paying with my Charles Schwab 2% card on payusatax to not have access to that 2% for the month while I pay it; however, I just spoke with customer service and they informed me the transaction would be deemed a cash advance transaction thus imposing additional fees to the transaction from FIA's end. So I started thinking does Citi have the same rules. I had to call Citi regarding a membership fee anyways which by the way was waived for $1000 in spend for 3 months. The call with Citi the csr had to ask her supervisor and they confirmed that tax payments are considered cash transactions since it is for a balance owed. So wow... that kinda changes everything as far as paying for points.

Once that was said and done I figured I'd give ole Amex Plat a call and see what they had to say about the charges and if they had any promos running (they didn't). They said since the card is a charge card and the bill is due at the end of each month then the transaction will not be considered a cash equiv transaction. It's unfortunate because I will have to pay a higher transaction rate for the Amex transaction at pay1040 or officialpayments; however, I will be receiving triple points after my first 3k charge and since I will not be charged any crazy cash equiv fees this seems like the more attractive option.

Anyone else want to chime in on these fees from Citi or FIA Schwab 2%?

BTW, Schwab did offer a 0% balance transfer up until November, but I have zero experience with balance transfers and she said it takes a few days for the money to hit your account.

WWaFTD?

I have never used payusataxes.com, but have been using officialpayment.com for several years to pay my estimated taxes. I have used Citi Amex and Amex Plat cards and never was charged a cash advance fee by these institutions. I only paid a convinience fee charged by officialpayments.com and even that always posted to my account as a purchase.

Yeah, I have never heard of the sort either in all the threads I've read regarding paying taxes with a cc (my first year). I am wondering with all this new credit card legislation if they are changing the way they do things regarding those borderline type transactions to generate additional fees. Either way I was 2 for 3 when calling csrs. If anyone else hears anything different then please keep us posted.

BTW, I was charged a cash equivalent fee for using my Charles Schwab 2% card on PAYPAL! They said all Paypal transactions are considered cash equivalent. Something about this just does not sound right... maybe they do not have a viable product anymore without 1 or 2 ridiculous fees?

+1. In prior years, I have used both Citi and Chase visa cards to pay taxes via officalpayments.com and there were no cash advance fees or interest from Chase or Citi. Such payments are treated as credit card charges (which makes sense as the 2%+ fee charged by the merchant is in turn needed to cover the bank processing fees).

Yeah I mentioned that to them as well. Calling back Schwab to see what a different csr has to say...

I am fairly certain that the CSR is misinformed. I recently did a payment with my travelocity card it went processed without any problems. I think there are lengthy discussions on SD and FW regarding using the Schwab card and using the float for 2 months.

Ya I think you are right.. I called back again and they didnt have a clue what they were talking about (purchase vs cash vs quasicash transactions). I think the first csr was trying to sign me up for a balance transfer which I have never done before. She even called me back to see if I was still interested!

I was also told by Schwab cc that it would be a cash advance.

Interesting.. Did they try to get you to do a balance transfer?

Anyone else already pay with Charles Schwab and have any results?

11.Will I be charged a cash advance fee?

No, your tax payment will be treated like a retail purchase and not a cash advance purchase.

https://payusatax.com/faq.aspx#11

5.Will I be charged a cash advance fee?

No, your tax payment will be treated like a retail purchase and not a cash advance.

https://www.pay1040.com/FAQ.aspx#5

4. Will my payment be processed as a purchase or cash advance transaction?

Your payment will be processed as a purchase transaction

https://www.officialpayments.com/fed...irs_cf_b.jsp#4

Just used payustax.com with US MC and it appears to have gone through as a CC transation, FWIW.

I just paid state and federal taxes with my new Chase UA MP visa. But I later realized that, with the service fee included, it would have been almost expensive to just buy the miles directly from UA. Oh well, give me a change to try out the new visa.