CardUp extends 1.75% promotion for income tax, adds new processing rules

CardUp has extended its promotional 1.75% fee on income tax payments, open to any customer who pays with a Singapore-issued Visa or Mastercard.

Payments must be scheduled by 26 December 2021, and the due date can be up to 7 January 2022.

Terms & Conditions

Do note that CardUp will no longer process income tax payments from the last four business days of each month until after the 6th of the following month, in order to facilitate reconciliation with IRAS. 

How do CardUp payments interact with GIRO deductions?

In my experience, making a manual income tax payment via CardUp reduces the GIRO deduction in subsequent months. 

For example, let’s say my income tax bill is S$12,000 and I opt for a GIRO installment plan. This breaks up my tax liability into 12 monthly payments of S$1,000 each. I then decide to pay off S$3,000 through CardUp. 

My payment schedule would look like this:

Notice how there’s no GIRO deduction in May, June or July. That’s because my S$3,000 payment through CardUp puts me “ahead of my obligations” during that period.

• As of June 2021, I owe IRAS S$2,000 of my total tax bill, but I’ve already paid off S$3,000 so there’s nothing to deduct
• As of July 2021, I owe IRAS S$3,000 of my total tax bill, but I’ve already paid off S$3,000 so there’s nothing to deduct
• As of August 2021, I owe IRAS S$4,000 of my total tax bill. I’ve already paid S$3,000, so S$1,000 is deducted through GIRO 

So the rule is that GIRO is only triggered to cover the difference when the amount paid to date is less than the overall amount due.

I’ve read a few comments from people with different experiences, but it could be because their CardUp payment came too close to the GIRO deduction window (6th of each month). With CardUp now blocking off the last four business days of each month all the way to the 6th of the following month, we shouldn’t have situations like this anymore. 

CardUp income tax payment promotion

Terms & Conditions

As a reminder, all CardUp customers will be able to enjoy a special rate of 1.75% on income tax payments with the promo code MLTAX2021. This code is valid with all Singapore-issued Mastercard and Visa cards. 

There is no minimum or maximum payment to use this code, but it can only be redeemed a maximum of once per user. Payments must be scheduled by 26 December 2021, with a due date by 7 January 2022. 

CardUp users can pay any amount, up to and including the total tax due amount on their NOA. Monthly payment options are also available for income tax, but the 1.75% admin fee will only apply to the first payment of a recurring tax payment series. 

What’s the cost per mile?

With the discounted admin fee, here’s how much buying miles will cost with the following Visa and Mastercard credit cards:

Card	Miles per S$1	Cost Per Mile (1.75% fee)
DBS Insignia	1.6	1.07
UOB Reserve	1.6	1.07
OCBC VOYAGE (Premier, PPC, BOS)	1.6	1.07
Citi ULTIMA	1.6	1.07
SCB Visa Infinite	1.4^	1.23
UOB PRVI Miles Visa or Mastercard	1.4	1.23
UOB Visa Infinite Metal	1.4	1.23
Citi Prestige	1.3	1.32
OCBC VOYAGE	1.3*	1.32
Citi PremierMiles	1.2	1.43
SCB X Card	1.2	1.43
DBS Altitude Visa	1.2	1.43
OCBC 90N	1.2*	1.43
KrisFlyer UOB	1.2	1.43
BOC Elite Miles	1.0	1.72
^With minimum S$2K spend per statement month, otherwise 1.0 mpd *CardUp is running a separate 1.7% promo for OCBC cardholders, which you can read about here

Most options here yield a cost of 1.5 cents per mile or less, which is a very good price to purchase miles.

However, Citibank cardholders would be better off paying through Citi PayAll, which is offering an excellent 2.5 mpd promotion until 31 August 2021. With an admin fee of 2%, your cost per mile works out to just 0.8 cents each. 

For the full range of options to earn miles when paying taxes, be sure to check out my guide below.

2021 Edition: How to pay IRAS income tax with your credit card (and earn miles)

Conclusion

CardUp users now have slightly more time to make their income tax payments, although it’s hard to argue with the awesome promotion that Citibank is now running. 

If you already have a CardUp income tax payment scheduled during the last four business days to the 6th of the following month, customer service will be reaching out to you to facilitate a rescheduling.