2025 Edition: How to earn credit card miles on IRAS income tax

The YA 2025 income tax season is now underway, and individuals will need to file their taxes by 18 April 2025. They’ll subsequently receive their tax bill (NOA) in batches between April to September 2025 (if you haven’t received yours yet, don’t worry— I promise you they haven’t forgotten!).

While I don’t think anyone will be jumping for joy to receive their NOA, there’s some good news: if you don’t mind paying a small admin fee, tax season is a great opportunity to earn some extra miles.

In this guide, I’ll walk you through the various methods of doing so, as well as the all-important cost per mile.

Tax Season 2025

💰 The MileLion’s Income Tax Guide 2025

How do I pay income taxes with a credit card? What are the fees involved? What’s changed for YA2025? What promotions are available? What’s the cost per mile? Other important things

How do I pay my income tax bill with a credit card?

IRAS does not accept credit card payments. In their own words:

Credit card payments are not offered by IRAS directly because of the high transaction costs charged by the credit card service providers. This is to keep the cost of collection low to preserve public funds.

-IRAS

However, this doesn’t mean you can’t use your credit card to pay taxes. Banks and bill payment platforms offer tax payment facilities, which allow cardholders to earn rewards on taxes in exchange for a small fee.

I divide these into “indirect” and “direct”.

Indirect Payment Facilities	Direct Payment Facilities
OCBC VOYAGE Payment Facility Standard Chartered Income Tax Payment Facility UOB Payment Facility	Citi PayAll CardUp DBS My Preferred Payment Plan SC EasyBill

Both indirect and direct facilities work the same in the sense that your credit card is charged for the tax amount due plus an admin fee, earning miles in the process. 

Where they differ is that:

• An indirect payment facility deposits the amount due into your designated bank account, in cash. You’re still responsible for paying IRAS
• A direct payment facility pays IRAS on your behalf

Whether it’s better to use an indirect or direct facility all boils down to the cost per mile: the admin fee, divided by the miles earned.

What are the fees involved?

Here’s a list of the various payment facilities and the applicable fees. 

🧾 List of Payment Facilities
Bank	Applicable Cards	Admin Fee
Link Direct	All cards except HSBC	1.5%-2.6%
Link Indirect	UOB PRVI Miles, Visa Infinite Metal, Reserve, KF UOB	1.6-1.8%
Link Indirect	OCBC VOYAGE	1.9%
Link Direct	All StanChart cards	1.9%
Link Indirect	StanChart Beyond, Visa Infinite	1.9%
Link Direct	All DBS cards	2.5%
Link Direct	All Citi cards	2.6%
There is an additional option called ipaymy, but for reasons outlined in this post, I neither endorse nor comment on their services. However, I’ll mention them in the cost per mile table later on to the extent it offers the lowest cost per mile for a given card.

While I’ve sorted the table above on the basis of admin fees, that’s only half the story. A lower fee doesn’t necessarily mean cheaper miles; you need to also consider the earn rate.

This can be confusing, because banks may offer different earn rates for income tax payments as opposed to regular retail spend. For example:

• The UOB PRVI Miles Card earns 1 mpd for payments via the UOB Payment Facility (versus 1.4 mpd normally)
• The OCBC VOYAGE Card earns 1 mpd for payments via the OCBC VOYAGE Payment Facility (versus 1.3 mpd normally)
• All DBS cards earn a flat 1.5 mpd for income tax payments, instead of their usual rates

To illustrate why it’s insufficient to just compare options on the basis of admin fees, the OCBC VOYAGE Payment Facility has an admin fee of 1.9%, and an earn rate of 1 mpd. This means the cost per mile is 1.9 cents.

In contrast, Citi PayAll has a higher admin fee of 2.6%, but the Citi ULTIMA Card earns 1.6 mpd. This means the cost per mile is lower than VOYAGE, at 1.63 cents.

If this is too complicated for you, I’ve done the calculations later on in this article for every major miles-earning card.

What’s changed for YA 2025?

Here’s a summary of the key changes that have taken place since last year’s article.

Chocolate Visa Card: Nerfed too soon

When the Chocolate Visa Card launched its “2 mpd on almost everything” partnership with HeyMax, I’m sure the game plan for many was to pay income taxes with AXS.

Unfortunately, that didn’t last very long. Chocolate removed support for AXS in early March 2025, and it looks unlikely that will ever come back. This was the only way of earning truly free miles on income tax, so it’s a shame it died so early!

You can still use the Chocolate Visa Card to pay income taxes through CardUp, but I’d recommend prioritising the card’s monthly 2 mpd cap of S$1,000 for transactions that are normally ineligible to earn rewards, such as charitable donations, education, government services, insurance premiums and utilities. Alternatively, you could use it for overseas spending to enjoy zero FCY transaction fees (you basically pay the prevailing Visa rate for the day).

StanChart Beyond Card: Time to shine

The newly-launched StanChart Beyond Card offers an uncapped earn rate of up to 2 mpd on local spending, making it the highest-earning option for income taxes.

For example, using the Standard Chartered Tax Payment Facility to pay your income taxes can earn you miles at a cost of just 0.95 cents per mile (based on a 1.9% admin fee and 2 mpd earn rate). If you’ve recently received the card and are working towards the 100,000 miles welcome offer, keep in mind that payments made through both the Standard Chartered Tax Payment Facility and SC EasyBill count towards the S$20,000 minimum spend requirement.

UOB One Account: Cashback ain’t bad!

The UOB One Account is set to nerf its interest rates from May 2025, but as a consolation prize, the bank has also launched a new promotion that offers account holders a 6% rebate on GIRO income (and property) tax payments made between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026.

The rebate cap depends on the monthly average balance (MAB) in your UOB One Account.

To earn this rebate, customers will need to complete the following three steps:

1. Register your mobile number for PayNow on UOB TMRW
2. Activate Money Lock on UOB TMRW (minimum S$1 lock amount)
3. Apply for GIRO Monthly Tax Payment Plan through IRAS portal, selecting UOB One Account for deduction

No further actions are required if you’ve already performed the above three activities prior to 1 April 2025.

You can enjoy this rebate and still earn miles, to the extent that your tax bill is high enough. For example, if my tax bill were S$1,000 per month, I could pay S$167 via CardUp (to earn miles) and S$833 via GIRO (to earn 6% rebates).

What promotions are available?

CardUp

CardUp’s promo codes for income tax payments can be found below.

If you have a large tax payment to make, it’s worth contacting CardUp (hello@cardup.co) to see if they will offer a special rate. In previous years, customers reported receiving a rate as low as 1.7%. 

Citi PayAll

Citi PayAll has yet to announce its income tax promotion for 2025. I will update this section once it has.

UOB Payment Facility

The UOB Payment Facility is currently running a promotion that allows cardholders to purchase unlimited miles from 1.6 to 1.8 cents each, depending on card. As this is a “pay anything” facility, however, UOB doesn’t really care what you use the funds for, and it doesn’t matter what size your tax bill is. 

Think of this as a way of topping up your account further, after you’ve exhausted the cheaper options.

What’s the cost per mile?

In the table below, I’ve ranked credit cards by the lowest possible price you can pay for miles, denoted by CPM (cost per mile, in cents).

💰 Summary of Tax Payment Options
Card	Pay Via	Fee  (MPD)	CPM
Chocolate Visa Apply	CardUp	1.75% 2 mpd	0.86¢
StanChart Beyond PB/PP Apply	SC EasyBill	1.9% 2 mpd	0.95¢
OCBC VOYAGE Premier, PPC, BOS Apply	CardUp (New)	1.55% 1.6 mpd	0.95¢
	CardUp (Existing)	1.73% 1.6 mpd	1.06¢
Citi ULTIMA Visa Apply	CardUp	1.75% 1.6 mpd	1.07¢
DBS Insignia Apply	CardUp	1.75% 1.6 mpd	1.07¢
UOB Reserve Apply	CardUp	1.75% 1.6 mpd	1.07¢
DBS Vantage Apply	CardUp	1.75% 1.5 mpd	1.15¢
OCBC VOYAGE Apply	CardUp (New)	1.55% 1.3 mpd	1.17¢
	CardUp (Existing)	1.73% 1.3 mpd	1.31¢
OCBC 90°N Visa Apply	CardUp (New)	1.55% 1.3 mpd	1.17¢
	CardUp (Existing)	1.75% 1.3 mpd	1.32¢
OCBC 90°N MC Apply	CardUp (New)	1.55% 1.3 mpd	1.17¢
	IPM (Existing)	1.99% 1.3 mpd	1.50¢
OCBC Premier Visa Infinite Apply	CardUp (New)	1.55% 1.28 mpd	1.19¢
	CardUp (Existing)	1.73% 1.28 mpd	1.33¢
Citi ULTIMA MC Apply	IPM	1.99% 1.6 mpd	1.22¢
UOB PRVI Miles Visa Apply	CardUp	1.75% 1.4 mpd	1.23¢
UOB Visa Infinite Metal Apply	CardUp	1.75% 1.4 mpd	1.23¢
StanChart Visa Infinite Apply	CardUp	1.75% 1.4 mpd*	1.23¢
StanChart Beyond Card Regular Apply	SC EasyBill	1.9% 1.5 mpd	1.27¢
DBS Altitude Visa Apply	CardUp	1.75% 1.3 mpd	1.32¢
Citi PremierMiles Visa	CardUp	1.75% 1.2 mpd	1.43¢
Maybank Visa Infinite Apply	CardUp	1.75% 1.2 mpd	1.43¢
StanChart Journey Apply	CardUp	1.75% 1.2 mpd	1.43¢
AMEX PPS Card Apply	IPM	1.99% 1.3 mpd	1.50¢
AMEX Solitaire PPS Card Apply	IPM	1.99% 1.3 mpd	1.50¢
Citi Prestige Apply	IPM	1.99% 1.3 mpd	1.50¢
DBS Altitude AMEX Apply	IPM	1.99% 1.3 mpd	1.50¢
AMEX KrisFlyer Ascend Apply	IPM	1.99% 1.2 mpd	1.63¢
Citi Premier Miles Apply	IPM	1.99% 1.2mpd	1.63¢
AMEX KrisFlyer Credit Card Apply	IPM	1.99% 1.1 mpd	1.77¢
UOB PRVI Miles MC Apply	CardUp	2.6% 1.4 mpd	1.81¢
UOB PRVI Miles AMEX Apply	CardUp	2.6% 1.4 mpd	1.81¢
AMEX Centurion Apply	IPM	1.99% 0.98 mpd	1.99¢
KrisFlyer UOB Apply	CardUp	2.6% 1.2 mpd	2.11¢
AMEX Platinum Charge Apply	IPM	1.99% 0.78 mpd	2.50¢
AMEX Platinum Credit Card Apply	IPM	1.99% 0.69  mpd	2.83¢
AMEX Platinum Reserve Apply	IPM	1.99% 0.69  mpd	2.83¢
*With a minimum spend of S$2,000 in a statement month. Minimum spend includes CardUp payments (and SC EasyBill/StanChart Tax Payment Facility for that matter).

Of course, the lower the cost per mile the better, but everyone will have to decide for themselves what “ceiling price” they’re willing to pay, based on their personal mile valuation.

Other important points

Apply for as many facilities as you want

There’s nothing stopping you from applying for multiple tax payment facilities in order to buy more miles (otherwise known as churning).

For example, someone with a S$24,000 tax bill and a StanChart Visa Infinite Card could set up an arrangement with both the Standard Chartered Income Tax Payment Facility and CardUp.

• With the Standard Chartered Income Tax Payment Facility, he could earn 33,600 miles (S$24,000 x 1.4 mpd) at a cost of S$456 (1.9% x S$24,000).
• With Cardup, he could pay his taxes in 12-month installments of S$2,000 each, earning 2,849 miles per month (S$2,000 x 1.0175 x 1.4 mpd) at a cost of S$35 (1.75% x S$2,000).

There’s no interaction between the two here, because the Standard Chartered Income Tax Payment Facility is indirect, and CardUp is direct. 

However, take care if you’re applying for two or more direct payment facilities, because overpaying your tax bill can create issues. Over the years, there have been many people who overpaid their taxes to buy additional miles, in the knowledge that IRAS will refund the excess anyway. However, this creates additional administrative work, and IRAS has made its displeasure at such activity known.

You can still use GIRO

IRAS allows taxpayers to split their payment into 12 interest-free instalments via GIRO. This is great for maximising your cashflow, and something I opt for each year.

Setting up GIRO for income tax can be done via the following methods:

• Instant
  • myTax portal (DBS/POSB, UOB, Bank of China, Citibank, HSBC, Maybank)
  • Internet banking (DBS/POSB, OCBC and UOB customers)
  • AXS stations (DBS/POSB customers)
• 3 weeks processing
  • GIRO application form (all bank customers)

Once your GIRO arrangement has been approved, you can view the monthly instalment by logging to myTax Portal, selecting Account > View Payment Plan > View Plan.

There are no issues using GIRO if you opt for an indirect payment facility, as the bank simply credits the cash to your account, and how you go about paying IRAS after that is up to you.

It’s also possible to use GIRO when you’re paying via a direct payment facility, though you’ll want to make manual payments well in advance of each month’s scheduled deduction (on the 6th of each month) to avoid double payment. 

To illustrate, suppose your tax bill is S$12,000 and you opt for GIRO. IRAS will split your tax bill such that S$1,000 comes due each month. 

Suppose you make a manual payment of S$400 in July 2025. According to your payment schedule, you were supposed to pay S$1,000 in July, so GIRO will automatically adjust to deduct S$600 instead of S$1,000 for that month. 

Then suppose you make a manual payment of S$1,500 in September 2025. According to your payment schedule, you only needed to pay S$1,000 in September, so GIRO won’t take any deduction for this month. 

When October 2025 comes round, assuming you make no further manual payment, GIRO will deduct S$500 to put you “back on schedule” with S$6,000 paid off by the end of October 2025.

Now, it’s important to keep in mind that IRAS GIRO deductions take place on the 6th of the month the tax is due (or the next working day if that happens to be a weekend or public holiday). If your manual payment is made too close to this date, it’s possible the full GIRO deduction will still take place. 

Therefore, I would recommend making all manual payments at least two weeks in advance to avoid a double deduction (but if a double deduction happens it’s not the end of the world, since that amount goes towards offsetting the following month’s payment). In any case, the CardUp system won’t let you schedule tax payments during the last few and first few days of each month. 

For more instructions on how to setup a recurring income tax payment series with CardUp, refer to this link.

When miles will be credited?

If you’re using CardUp, you can expect your credit card points to be awarded once the transaction posts.

However, if/when Citi PayAll does launch a promotion, it’s common for them to only award the base points when the transaction posts (e.g. 1.2 mpd with the Citi PremierMiles Card). You’ll need to wait several weeks after the promotion ends to receive the bonus component.

So if you’re hoping to use your miles for a trip in the near future, that’s something you need to factor in too.

What type of points are you earning?

When evaluating two cards with similar cost per mile figures, it’s helpful to think of qualitative factors as well.

For example, Citi Miles would be superior to DBS Points or UOB UNI$, thanks to the sheer number of transfer partners available. Likewise, non-expiring Citi Miles and 90°N Miles would be more useful than expiring UNI$ or HSBC Rewards Points.

For the full analysis, refer to my guide below.

Which bank offers the best credit card points currency?

Conclusion

Income Tax Season 2025 is now underway, and we’re starting to see the promotions roll out. The current lowest cost per mile starts from 0.86 cents, which can be attractive especially for those looking to redeem First and Business Class tickets.

I’ll be updating this article as new tax payment promotions are announced, so be sure to bookmark it for future reference!