Tax Payment Bonus Thread
 

It might be helpful to have the 2006 promotions all in one place. (I charge enough taxes in a year to, with double miles, end up with a few free trips, so programs I don't even normally care about would be of interest if the deal is good enough).

United MP Visa - Double miles, with no limit, for all of 2006.

(Haven't yet heard from Starwood, which last year had a 5K limit, and time limit).

Please list mileage bonus (such as "double"), any cap on miles, any time limit (i.e., April 15, or all year), and any cap on earning for non-elite of an airline/hotel card.

SPG is up:
https://www.pay1040.com/Terms_Starwood.aspx
Basically same as last year.

Delta as well. See: http://www.andrewcram.com/tax.html

Even if you have a refund for 2005, you can make an estimated tax payment for 2006 (whether you need to or not). This can really pay off:

Example: Charge $5,000 and pay a fee of $124.50. Receive 10,000 SPG points, which can buy 1 night at the Sheraton Park Lane in London. Cheapest rate at the Park Lane is around 149 pounds = $260.

Net gain = $135.50, or more than a 50% discount on the room.

no kickers to this, are there?
 

Does the processing fee fold in, so that one would wind up with a total of 10,124 SPG points (or 10,249?) for paying $5K in taxes with the card? Are such payments treated like a purchase of goods rather than something like a cash advance, starting an immediate accrual of additional interest charges? (I am interested in doing this, but want to be sure there are no kickers, only the upfront fee for charging the tax payment to the card.) One gets the usual one-month or so float on the money?

Except, assuming you don't need to make an estimated payment, you are losing out on a year's interest on that $5,000. Lots of banks paying 4.25% out there, so the lost interest is 5000*.0425=$212.50. $212.50+$124.50=$337>$260.

(Ignoring taxes, and assuming interest rates stay at 4.25% for the rest of the year.)

The payments are treated as "purchases", not "cash advances", so you still have the float! :D

Don't know y'all but I have to pay 100+k ... does it make sense to use the CC and pay an extra 3.5k in fees for dam points?? Uncle Sam did it again...

"Ignoring taxes" is convenient, but since it would consume 28-35% of the interest, not vary fair while doing the comparison

$337 less 35% taxes (Fed and State, maybe higher) = $220 < $260


SVO has a current offer for bonus points to sign up for the SPG card, on top of the normal bonus and waving the first year's fee. With over $5K due, it may just be worth the transaction.

Losing a year's worth of interest doesn't make a whole lot of sense, even with you best case scenerio, you are talking about $0.03+ for a point/mile. However, if one can make an estimated tax payment right now for 2005, then wait a month to file the return and getting the refund back, then no losing of interest, and cost of $0.012 per point may not be a bad deal.

I've crunched the numbers on the double miles deals, and I usually end up with 1.2 or 1.3 cents per mile as the cost, after considering everything. I recently used 140k DL miles to fly F on Singapore Air, and believe me, it was well worth $1,820.

How do you figure "an extra 3.5k"? I thought the fees worked out to just a bit more than 2.5% (2.6?), which wouldn't be very appealing were it not for the double miles. And I believe the double miles deal is out there for payment of any taxes, personal or business, estimated or annual.

I always end up owing The Man about $4,000-6,000 on April 15th. Double Starpoints...that's a no-brainer! ^

Well, that was my exact 2005 scenario. I figured it was worth it for 2 int'l F tickets to Europe (with UA double miles)

You have complete control over your W-4. You can start taking out less in taxes now and make the estimated payment at any time during the year. As long as you meet the appropriate test (and you must be careful), you can always get your miles without any lost interest.