Westpac slashes credit card frequent flyer points on ATO payments

Westpac is slashing the number of frequent flyer points that can be earned on payments to the Australian Taxation Office across its range of Altitude and Qantas Earth rewards credit cards.

From November 9, ATO payments made on most Westpac American Express cards see points accruing at half the usual rates, while ATO transactions on most Westpac Visas and MasterCards will earn no points at all.

Collecting frequent flyer points on personal income tax obligations and HECS debt repayments has been a favourite trick of savvy travellers, with many also using points-earning business credit cards to cover their quarterly BAS payments to the ATO.

Although the Tax Office imposes a surcharge on Visa, MasterCard and American Express transactions, earning the full raft of frequent flyer points could often swing the deal firmly in your favour – until now.

What you’ll earn from November 9

Westpac’s Altitude Black, Platinum, Platinum Plus and base-level ‘Altitude’ cards are all on the hit list, as are the Qantas-earning variants of the same cards.

The bank’s top-tier Earth Black cards are also targeted, along with the now-superseded Earth, Earth Platinum and Earth Platinum Plus lines.

All of the accounts above come with both an American Express card and a companion Visa or MasterCard for use where AMEX isn’t accepted.

As of November 9, that companion Visa or MasterCard won’t earn any points on ATO payments – even when paying the ATO-imposed 0.42% surcharge.

For Westpac American Express transactions, here’s how the changes shake out across the board for every dollar paid to the ATO.

• Altitude and Altitude Platinum: American Express drops from two Altitude points to one Altitude point.
• Altitude Platinum Plus and Altitude Black: AMEX halves from three Altitude points to 1.5 Altitude points.
• Altitude Qantas, Altitude Qantas Platinum, Earth and Earth Platinum: Earning decreases from one Qantas Point to half a Qantas Point.
• Altitude Qantas Platinum Plus, Earth Platinum Plus and Earth Black: 1.5 Qantas Points per dollar drops to 0.75 Qantas Points on the same spend.

The fine print

American Express payments come with the ATO’s 1.45% surcharge, which appears as a separate credit card transaction to the main payment itself.

Both the primary payment and the surcharge transaction are hit with the new earning rates, so although you’ll still earn points on the surcharge, it likely won’t be enough to make it worth your trouble.

Also, while the non-Qantas Altitude earning rates are more generous in number, that bounty is normally halved when converting Altitude points into airline currency – so you won’t earn more frequent flyer points by switching across to an ‘Altitude’ product from the Earth or ‘Altitude Qantas’ cards.

Unaffected by the changes are the bank’s Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer Platinum cards, the Altitude Business Gold cards and the BusinessChoice Rewards Qantas Aquire cards.

Westpac’s Altitude Business Platinum lines already sees reduced earning rates on government transactions (including ATO payments), but bring in 0.5 Altitude points per dollar on both the Visa and the American Express.

The bank’s range of frequent flyer credit cards join the ranks of those issued directly by American Express, where cards such as the Qantas Ultimate and the Platinum Edge already award only half a point per dollar spent with the ATO.

Westpac has not responded to Australian Business Traveller's telephone and email requests for comment.

Also read: ANZ to axe unlimited Qantas Points on credit cards

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Chris C.

Chris is a a former contributor to Executive Traveller.