Reply To: Is it risky to use Virgin card -> Curve -> HMRC now?

[ThriceForgiven]

Hi all,

I just posted in the Daily Chat thread but I’ll bump this thread as well as it’s relatively related:

Very niche question related to HMRC Self-Assessment for which I will probably create a sister thread in the Virgin Atlantic forum, but appreciate ANY guidance from the wise community here at HfP.

Just did my personal self-assessment and have an HMRC bill due in Jan in excess of £50k. The crux of my question is I want to generate points (of any kind at this stage) from this transaction, but am not sure how to do it given recent rumblings on Curve. I have the VA+ card (with a £10k limit) and some US cards as well ($25k or so limit each). Specific questions I have:

1) Is there a way to break down that £50k payment in smaller chunks for HMRC? The website says if “if you cannot pay by debit card then use a different option such as bank transfer” but I read something about instalments (though not immediately clear how this works).
2) In the event that #1 is a possibility, what’s the best way to pay these with amounts with a GBP denominated credit card? I have the free Curve but would consider upgrading to metal to avoid 1.5% on ~£50k, though I suppose I’d need to align with the £10k monthly limit for this to work (and not sure whether VA+ will be closing this route soon as well).
3) Same question as above but for USD cards – if I upgrade to Curve Metal do I receive infinite FX-free transactions?
4) One final, HMRC-specific question (just in case!) – I also received a Payment On Account Due for the following year, also in a lump sum due for January. Is there anyway to spread these payments out?