Paying the ATO by credit card in 2026: the fee, the points and the June 2027 deadline

What changed with paying the ATO by card?

The ATO had planned to stop taking credit cards from 1 December 2026. As SBS reported, covering the card fees itself was estimated to cost about $200 million a year.

Then on 9 October 2026 the ATO announced it will keep accepting credit card payments for tax obligations until 30 June 2027, after the government provided transitional funding. The ATO's own payment page now says card payment fees do not apply to payments. After 30 June 2027 you will no longer be able to pay the ATO directly by credit card. The ATO says taxpayers can still use third-party payment providers after that date, and asks people to look carefully at their fees, charges and processing times, and to check the provider's credentials before sharing details.

What are the two ways to pay the ATO by card?

1. Directly to the ATO. Until 30 June 2027 this costs nothing extra. The catch is points. Point Hacks notes that the list of banks that award points on direct ATO payments is "quite small". Your card might earn nothing, or a reduced rate. Check your card's terms.

2. Through a third-party platform. Services such as pay.com.au and Sniip take your card payment and then pay the ATO for you. pay.com.au's help centre says you add the ATO as a BPAY payee with your PRN from your ATO notice, and it sends the funds by bank transfer or BPAY. The ATO's BPAY biller code is 75556, and the ATO says BPAY payments can take up to 4 business days to reach your account. You pay their fee, and in return the payment usually earns the normal points rate on your card, because to your bank it looks like a payment to that platform rather than to the ATO.

What do the platforms charge?

pay.com.au lists its card platform fee by plan:

Is the fee worth the points?

The only question that matters is whether the points are worth more to you than the fee.

Take a $10,000 BAS payment through pay.com.au on the Free plan with a Visa card. The platform fee is 1.20%, so $120. If your card earns 1 point per dollar, you earn roughly 10,000 points (a little more, since the fee is charged to the card too).

Is 10,000 points worth more than $120 to you? That depends entirely on how you redeem. Point Hacks' own worked example values points at around 1.9 cents each for flights. Redeem the same points for gift cards or goods and the value is usually far lower. Be honest with yourself about what you will actually redeem for.

Until 30 June 2027, also compare against the free option. If your card does earn points on direct ATO payments, paying direct costs nothing, and a platform only makes sense for extras like PayRewards Points. Our pay.com.au fees guide breaks those down.

What catches people out?

• Due dates do not move. A platform is an intermediary. Pay early enough for the money to reach the ATO on time.
• Use the right PRN. Copy it from the ATO notice for that tax account.
• Interest wipes out points fast. If you will not clear the card in the interest-free period, the sum stops working.
• Point Hacks is affiliated with pay.com.au, and says so on its pages. Its fee tables have also lagged pay.com.au's own pricing page at times (its guide lists Mastercard from 0.80%, while pay.com.au's pricing page now shows 1.00% to 1.20%). Always check the provider's own page.
• Get tax advice on whether fees are deductible for you.

The other side of the ledger

The same sum applies to supplier payments. Paying the ATO is money going out. If your business also takes card payments from customers, it is worth knowing that some merchant providers pay points on money coming in. FairPayments (Nuvei Preferred Partner), for example, gives eligible merchants Velocity Points at 1 point per $25 in card sales, with 0.95% on Visa and Mastercard and a flat 25c per eftpos transaction (see our published rates). It is offered to auto, wholesale food and trade supply businesses. Pay less. Get more. That's fair.

So should I pay the ATO by card?

Until 30 June 2027, paying the ATO directly by card is free, so a points platform is only worth it if its fee buys you more in points than it costs. After that date, a third-party platform becomes the only way to put a tax bill on a credit card. Work it out for each payment, with your own card's earn rate and your own redemption habits.