Big news: HMRC cuts its credit card fee to 0.4% which means VERY cheap points

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• Enigma368 says:

  2 Apr2 April 04:56

  I have recently started working as a contractor, and run my own company. I will have to pay corporation tax to HMRC. Can I use a personal card to do this?

  Really wish I had kept my Diamond Club Amex/Visa. 1.25 avios per £ sounds pretty good right now.

  • Genghis says:

    2 Apr2 April 06:24

    Yes, then just ‘refund’ yourself as an expense

• Louie says:

  2 Apr2 April 05:01

  Thanks for this Rob. It’s made me realise I’m missing a trick. I always used my 1 pt per £1 HSBC Premier card in preference to my 1.25 Avios per £1 Diamond Club Mastercard, being of the view that the value of HSBC partners mileage schemes was higher than 1.25x Avios, and just sighed when they halved the rate earlier this year. I had completely forgotten that I’ve got the Mastercard at home. I’ll have to dig it out…..

• Tom C says:

  2 Apr2 April 06:37

  Finally some good news! This change along with Curve should mean I can earn substantially more miles than ever before this year.

• harry says:

  2 Apr2 April 06:45

  I take it you can overpay HMRC then request a refund of the overpayment?

  • Genghis says:

    2 Apr2 April 06:52

    Historically, how was it refunded? Cheque?

    • John says:

      2 Apr2 April 06:55

      Yes, historically.

    • harry says:

      2 Apr2 April 06:58

      Generally, your method of refund will be back to the same card = therefore ultimately pointless unless you need a very quick turnaround. However, if you first pay using direct debit, then subsequently use credit cards (plural), you’d stand a decent chance of asking for & getting the refund back via direct debit.

      This worked fine with all but one gas & elec cos – who insisted on refunding £1250 onto 50 different 3Vs 😉

      • John says:

        2 Apr2 April 07:02

        Actually, since IHG premium gives you points on refunds, it could be very lucrative depending on how much risk you want to take – barclays may discover the error, paypal and ebay may ban your current name and address for life

        • BP says:

          2 Apr2 April 16:06

          IHG Premium take the points back, even if it’s the next statement month.

      • Mark1980 says:

        2 Apr2 April 08:33

        Harry, out of interest, what was the energy supplier who insisted on refunding back to your card?

  • John says:

    2 Apr2 April 07:00

    If you don’t mind waiting until after you submit your self assessment, you’ll get refunded automatically to bank account.

    I’d rather not draw attention to making a large overpayment but some people here are more willing to take risks…

    Actually I think I waited a year to get my “refunds” from the 3Vs that I paid to HMRC, but they paid me a bit of interest, and it doesn’t matter to me if HMRC has some of my money for a while (getting scammed for 50p on a foreign DCC charge will make me spend a lot more effort!). If I did my self assessment sooner then the refund would have come more quickly, I suppose.

    • Rob says:

      2 Apr2 April 08:59

      With self assessment you don’t really overpay – you pay towards your next payment but you can ask for that advance payment back.

    • David says:

      4 Apr4 April 10:53

      You can indeed overpay by card and then request a refund of your overpayment, but HMRC have a nasty habit of delaying this type of refund for months due to “security checks” so it’s not for the faint of heart.

• mark says:

  2 Apr2 April 07:04

  Guess you cannot use Amex?

  As i only have MBNA issues Etihad and the legacy Lloyds avios with the ability to earn points (none amex)

• Ian says:

  2 Apr2 April 07:11

  Shame many companies still charge 2% plus.

  One firm even charged it on debit cards!

• Leo says:

  2 Apr2 April 07:30

  This is great news. The Curve card will go straight into my drawer when it gets here now. I won’t be overpaying either. I’m just pleased to be able to have a method of getting some points against the various monies I pay HMRC. For now I’ll continue to use Supercard. See if the new product also reads as a debit card as and when. Makes the free IHG night and continued Spire very easy.

• Sav says:

  2 Apr2 April 07:47

  Nice to see they lowered the fee well after 31st Jan. Very cunning.

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