This guide takes another look at B2Bpay, one of a number of new online payment portals that are expanding the opportunities for businesses to earn the full rate of credit card points on both bank transfers as well as BPAY transactions, regardless of whether the biller reduces or restricts the number of points that can be earned from your card, including the ATO.
Disclaimer: This guide was produced in partnership with B2Bpay, a Point Hacks commercial partner.
What is B2Bpay.com.au?
B2Bpay.com.au (B2Bpay) is a secure online payment portal for businesses to pay all of their invoices using their existing credit cards, whether or not the biller actually accepts credit cards. Billers receive payments by EFT or BPAY.
All major credit cards are accepted, including both American Express and Diners.
How B2Bpay works is best illustrated through an infographic provided by the business:
First-time users to B2Bpay will need to register their details to open a B2Bpay profile at no cost.
How many Qantas Points do I earn?
In addition to earning at the full-rate on your credit card, B2Bpay users will earn 1 Qantas Business Rewards point per $100 they transact, plus up to 3 Qantas Business Rewards points per $1.50 spent with Bonus Billers.
B2BPay is currently offering 2,000 Qantas Business Rewards points for your first transaction, and 10,000 bonus Qantas Business Rewards points if you spend $10,000 by 31 July 2018.
Using B2Bpay to pay the ATO
Until recently, small businesses and individuals facing hefty ATO bills got some consolation in knowing that paying their tax liabilities would at least earn them a large number of frequent flyer points.
However, realising that many large businesses had some very large tax liabilities, many credit card providers began to impose earning restrictions or rate reductions for transactions with the ATO.
What began as a trickle of providers became a flood, and today nearly all credit card providers offer no points on transactions with the ATO, with only a few, such as American Express, offering reduced rates.
Have the days of earning the full rate of points on ATO transactions stopped entirely? Thankfully, the answer is no, thanks to the likes of B2Bpay.
How much does B2BPay cost to use?
There is no cost to join B2BPay, however, you will be required to pay a card processing fee, which is likely to be tax deductible if the transaction is business-related, however, please confirm this with your accountant.
The applicable B2Bpay card processing fees are as follows:
- Visa/Mastercard standard cards: 1.2%
- Visa/Mastercard premium and corporate cards: 1.55%
- American Express cards: 2.4%
- Diners cards: 2.4%
All fees are exclusive of GST. B2Bpay will provide you with a tax invoice for the card processing fee.
Is it worth using B2Bpay to pay the ATO?
It depends—on the card you use, and how much you value the points earned. But it’s definitely worth considering if you know you can get value from the credit card and Qantas Points you’ll earn.
So when it comes to paying the ATO, you now have three options to consider:
- Make the ATO payment by bank transfer or BPAY directly with the ATO. While there is no cost in doing this, there are no credit card or Qantas Points earned.
- Make the ATO payment with a credit card directly with the ATO. A credit processing fee is charged by the ATO and depending on which credit card you are using, you will earn either reduced points or no credit card or Qantas Points at all.
- Make the ATO payment with a credit card through B2Bpay. A credit processing fee is charged by B2Bpay (as shown above) and you will earn the full rate of points for your credit card and Qantas Points too.
If you use B2Bpay to pay the ATO by American Express (rather than paying direct), you can earn double the credit card points without paying double the fee and earn Qantas Points from B2Bpay too.
When determining whether to pay any surcharge, the first thing to consider is the value you place on your points. You can check out our list of rewards points values, which can be used to compare to the cost of earning the points through B2Bpay.
There are a number of points-earning business Visa, Mastercard and American Express credit cards aimed at small businesses, and almost all of them limit the earn rate for payments made to the ATO directly—if it’s even an option at all. It’s worth considering that most consumer cards now exclude earning points from business transactions too.
Given this, it’s definitely worth running the numbers on your particular card to see if paying B2Bpay’s fee and earning your full points earn rate on ATO payments instead is going to work out for you.
To do this, calculate the cost of paying the ATO directly or through B2Bpay and the total amount of credit card or Qantas Points you’d earn in either scenario. If the additional fee works out for you to earn more points, then B2Bpay is a viable option.
These are the current surcharges applied by the ATO if paying directly:
| Payment method | Surcharge (as of Jan 2022) |
|---|---|
| BPAY/bank transfer | None |
| Mastercard Debit | 0.20% |
| Visa Debit | 0.40% |
| Visa Credit | 0.72% |
| Mastercard Credit | 0.77% |
| American Express | 1.45% |
| Visa/Mastercard international payments | 1.99% |
Our take on using B2Bpay to pay the ATO
There are definitely opportunities for businesses to derive greater value by paying through B2Bpay than directly to the biller through a bank transfer or BPAY payment—and in the ATO’s case, paying their surcharge but likely with fewer points earned on your rewards credit card.
While the ATO’s surcharge of 0.78% is lower than B2BPay’s 1.55%, the value gained from the additional credit card or Qantas Points could offset the additional cost. It all depends on which card you’re using, and how much you value those additional points.
The team at B2Bpay tell us that paying the ATO by American Express has been very popular because of the ability to earn double the credit card points (and Qantas Points on top) without paying double the fee.
Please correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the earn rate for ATO payments is at the same rate of spend on Utilities ie., 1.0 Altitude point per $ for the Black card (which effectively halves when converted to air-miles) and 0.5 Ascent points per $ for the Platinum card.
However, as the earn rate is different for each card depending on the ‘class’ of purchase, ie., Restaurants, Travel, Retail, Utilities, my question is… what is the ‘normal’ points earn on each when making ATO payments via B2B?
Thanks,
Myles.
No, you just pay the one fee from B2B. So 1.68% after the company tax decuction (30% of 2.4%) on a 10,000 payment means your cost is 10,000 x1.68% = $168.
If you have an explorer card, this translates to 2×10,000 = 20,000 MR points, which translates to 15,000 Airline points (3 points for 4 MR) with their eight partner airlines.
Or 10,000 SPG points. Which can be redeemed for almost all airline points. Do this twice, and get 20,000 SPG, which can be tarnsferred to any airline mile with a 5,000 bonus, giving you 25,000 miles at a cost of $336 (2×168).
A place like Reikart House, Buffalo, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel, is a Category 4 property in Newyork with a nightly rate of $165 USD ($220 AUD as of today), but only costs 10,000 SPG points to book. Which is already a better value than paying with cash.
But you can also take advantage of 5th night free for any SPG-Marriot properties if staying fore 4 nighhts or more.
Better yet, you can get the 5 Nights for 70,000 SPG points for category 4 hotels, and get an extra 50,000 airline points for whichever airline you choose. Which would cost you 7x $168 = $1,176, but get you 5 nights at any category 4 hotels plus 50,000 airline miles to use when you can with an an airline of your choice.
You can fly from SYD to LAX for 45,000 QFF in economy. You can fly East coast to south pacific region on Air New Zelaand for only 35,000 return in BUSINESS Class! This alone could potentially be worth more than $1500 in cash.
For a total of $1176, you could get five nights at a hotel that costs $220, so $1100. And a business . class return flight to Fiji, normally over $1500. Cost = $1176, Value = $1100 + $1500 = $2600
Kevin
B2Bpay
The better question has to be, how does the B2B compare to RewardPay??
Yes, you’re correct about the card points and the Qantas Points.
In terms of comparisons; only B2Bpay can help you earn additional Qantas Points when paying your business expenses (ATO and beyond) and you can also have the option to pay by Visa, Mastercard, Diners Club or American Express. The bonus 10,000 Qantas Points offer – ending 31 July – is nice too 🙂
Kevin
B2Bpay
Kevin
B2Bpay
If you pay the ATO via B2BPay (or any other 3rd party payment service), the only fee you’ll pay is the one imposed by the payment service. The service provides payment to the ATO via direct deposit, which has no fee.
So paying by Amex, you have a $264 fee (2.4% + GST) on $10k, not $409.
The double rate comes from the fact ATO payments only attract 0.5 points per dollar if you pay the ATO directly by Amex. (5000 points on $10k).
If you pay via B2BPay, you get the full points rate on purchases from your Amex – so 1 point per dollar (or more depending on which specific card).
Then you get the points from B2BPay as well.
I’m not saying it’s a smart way to go on its own, but with the bonus points in the offer the points rat e works out ok.
Kevin
B2Bpay
So you’d need to be earning 40,000 points if you value them at 1c. Not sure where “ability to earn double the credit card points” comes from, Amex gives you maybe 10,000-15,000 points and B2Bpay adds, um, 300 points?
Kevin from B2Bpay here.
The replies from others should clarify it for you – you earn double the card points paying the ATO via B2Bpay but the fee to B2Bpay is not double the fee if you pay the ATO direct (you only pay one fee) and you earn additional Qantas Points from B2Bpay too.
What’s more, our existing customers tell us that being able to pay multiple billers – not just the ATO – by card in the one place is a great benefit and time saver too.
Let me know or give us a call on 1300 205 575 if you need assistance.
Thanks,
Kevin