Use Taxes Owed as Easy Amex MSR
Tax season is upon us and if you owe taxes this year, now is the time to turn that inconvenience into free travel.
American Express cards have high minimum spend requirements and my usual methods do not work with Amex. Banks rarely allow credit card funding with Amex and paying rent with Amex (when they are not fighting with Plastiq) is expensive since rent will not code as a bonus category.
On top of that, Amex has a Rewards Abuse Team (RAT) dedicated to clawing back your bonuses if they detect any “gaming” of the system. So, large giftcard purchases are out. You will need to make sure any Amex spending for an intro bonus is legitimate in their eyes.
Luckily, paying taxes counts as legitimate spend and the RAT will not touch rewards earned with this legitimate spending.
In order to pay taxes owed with a credit card, simply file as you normally would (free with TurboTax or Credit Karma) and check the pay later box. Head over the official IRS payment page and pick a payment vendor. Fees start at 1.87% for all credit cards, including Amex.
Taxes are due mid April, so if you apply at the beginning of March, that puts the tax payment deadline right in the middle of your 3 month window.
Bonus: you can overpay your taxes and the IRS will refund the difference about a week after regular refunds are sent out.
Bonus 2: Amex Business Gold Rewards (50k MR, $0 intro annual fee) has a Google Suite credit offer now which reimburses $1,500. So, your MRS is effectively reduced to $3,500 on the 50,000 point offer. Note: the G-suite deal is only available on non-referral links.
