I earned 2 Free Flights just by Paying my Taxes – Rewards on Govt Spends
Government Spends can be rewarding if you use the right credit card. So recently, I had to pay almost couple of lakhs in taxes while filing my ITR, so I started to think how I can make use of credit cards to earn some rewards for paying my tax. There are very less credit cards available in India which help you earn reward points/milestone on govt spends. I checked for multiple such credit cards and narrowed them down to American Express Platinum Travel and IDFC Vistara credit card as both of them would earn rewards and milestone benefits
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Decision
With more research and calculation, I finalised IDFC Vistara for paying my taxes. Now the only problem was, I didn’t have it. Thankfully, few months ago, I had opened a zero-balance saving account with IDFC which had made me their customer and had my KYC updated.
Application Journey
So, I applied for IDFC Vistara credit card directly on IDFC Bank’s website and was shown limit and fees that I will be getting. Within few minutes, my application was approved, and a digital card was generated for me started showing up in the application.
Card Delivery
The physical card was delivered to me within 3 days along with DreamFolks Membership Card for Lounge and Spa Access within India.
Welcome benefits
- Welcome benefits include a complementary Premium Economy ticket and 2 upgrade vouchers which can be applied on current booking.
- 3 months of EazyDiner Prime Membership as well which is beneficial if you eat out at restaurants.
Paying taxes
So, after my digital card was generated, I went ahead on Income tax portal and paid off my taxes using credit card. There are some additional fees if you pay via credit card on govt. portal. I calculated and found rewards earned would be more than the fees, so I went ahead and paid the tax.
Rewards Earned
- I earned around 4500 CV points, by paying my tax, which are enough to redeem for a domestic flight ticket.
- I unlocked first milestone of paying 1.5L and got a premium economy ticket
Conclusion
Just by paying Rs 5900 for this card as fees, I was able to fetch 2 Premium economy tickets in Vistara, and 1 economy which can be upgraded to Premium Economy by using one of the seat upgrade vouchers that we get in welcome benefit. This total value is between Rs 25,000 – 30,000. That’s a profit of at least Rs 20,000 just for paying taxes. This calculation I was able to do before hand and it proved beneficial to me. So yes, credit cards can be super rewarding, if you can do the research correctly.
FAQs
Are there any fees for using a credit card to pay taxes?
Yes, government portals may charge extra fees for credit card payments.
