Update 9/9/23: Just adding this Reddit report from a CFPB response confirming that tax payments with Amex do count toward rewards AND count toward minimum spend requirements.
Update 5/12/23: Reddit use refarch88 found that Amex promotes earning rewards with IRS payments as well in their emails:
Earn rewards by putting IRS expenses on your Card using secure payment processors, like payUSAtax, Pay1040, and ACI Payments.
Original Post 12/4/22:
Reader Robert bumped into an interesting page from Chase where they work through the pros and cons of paying your federal or state taxes with a credit card. Including in the pros: convenience, more time to pay, and to help meet a signup bonus spend requirement.
We wrote that while American Express allows tax payments their human reps sometimes don’t like counting it for purposes of meeting minimum spend requirements. And so it’s good to see Chase officially recommend it. Tax payments are one of the most legitimate expenses one can have.
One of the cons listed is that a cashback card earning 2% may have all the earnings cancelled out by the card processing fee which is true. The lowest rate available is 1.87% which barely makes it worthwhile on a 2% card. But it can still make sense for signup bonus requirements or for a spend offer or to meet a status spend requirement or for someone who highly values the points of a particular currency.
