This is just a quick note before the tax filing deadline: A reader reported via FlyerTalk that you can pay your taxes with Visa gift cards purchased from Office Depot. I reported recently that you can earn 5 points per dollar by buying these gift cards (see Almost too good to be true), so it’s possible to do really well paying your taxes this way!
Here are the instructions that were posted on FlyerTalk. Note that I have not confirmed this:
1. Go to office depot and buy $500 visa debit cards with Ink card (5 points per $1). Fee $4.95. HT to frequentmiler.com
2. Add your zip code online.
3. Call 1-888-9-PAY-TAXtm (did not work for me online @ payUSAtax.com) and pay $3.49 fee per transaction.
4. You can do 2 transactions a day. Tom. by noon (per them)considered before deadline.
So, each card fee of $8.44 ($4.95 plus fee of $3.49) = 2500 UR points
They said that IRS will sent automatically check for overpayment, but I would not go wild with it for obvious reasons.
I’ll post a more thorough discussion of paying taxes with gift cards in the future. For now, here are a few other references:
- Reader Request: Earning Miles & Points on a $1.4 Million Tax Bill? By Million Mile Secrets
- Does it Make Sense to Pay Taxes With a Credit Card? By ThePointsGuy
- Tax Day – Can I pay with a credit card? By DeltaPoints
- See the IRS rate sheet here.