It’s Income Tax Season
Need to pay income tax in Singapore but want to use your credit card for rewards? While the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) doesn’t accept credit cards directly, there’s a solution: CardUp/iPayMy.
What Is Cardup/iPayMy?
CardUp/iPayMy are third-party services that allow you pay income tax with credit card and earn rewards like cashback or miles.
How It Works:
- CardUp/iPayMy charges your credit card for the tax amount + a fee.
- They handle the bank transfer to IRAS for you.
Maximise Your New User Benefits First On Cardup or iPayMy
If you’re new to these platforms, use these codes on other payments (e.g. insurance, rent, education) to maximise your first-timer discount before using the tax promo codes:
New Users:
- CardUp: Use code NICHOLASN116 to get $30 off your first payment (sweet spot payment amount: $1,154). Alternatively, if you have large payments, use code “LOBANGSIS” to get discounted 1.79% fee on up to S$5K on your first payment with a Visa card
- iPayMy: Sign up via this link to get $30 off (sweet spot payment amount: $1,250).
Then after which, you can use this code to take advantage of the tax promotion.
Existing Users
- For One-Off Tax Payments on CardUp: Use
VTAX25ONEto get a reduced 1.75% fee (vs usual 2.6%)- Valid for Visa & UnionPay cards
- Up to 2 redemptions per user
- Schedule by 23 May 2025, 6PM
- Payment due by 26 May 2025
- T&Cs here
- For Recurring Tax Payments on Cardup: Use
VTAX25R- Valid for Visa & UnionPay cards
- Up to 11-monthly recurring personal income tax payments within the redemption limit
- Schedule by 31 August 2025, 6PM
- Payment due between 7 May 2025 and 25 March 2026
- T&Cs here
- For One-Off Tax Payments on CardUp: Use
Optimisation Strategy Example for a S$6,000 Payment:
- Pay $1,154 on insurance using the code NICHOLASN116 (CardUp).
- Sign up via referral link & Pay $1,250 on rent (iPayMy).
- Use
VTAX25ONEon one-off tax payment or useVTAX25Rfor recurring tax payment to get 1.75% fee for the remaining S$3,596.
How To Calculate Cost Per Mile:
For an admin fee for CardUp is 1.75%, with a 1.4 miles per dollar card and a tax amounting to S$1,000, here is the calculation:
Amount x Admin fee = Service Fee
S$1,000 x 0.0175 = S$17.5 service fee
Amount x (1 + Admin Fee) x Earn Rate = Miles Earned
S$1,000 x (1+0.0175) x 1.4 miles per dollar = 1,424 Miles
Service Fee / Miles Earned = Cost per Mile
S$17.5 / S$1,424 = 1.23¢ cost per mile
Here are the credit cards that can earn you either miles or cashback via Cardup:
Miles:
Miles Card | Earn Rate | Cost Per Mile (after 1.75% promo code) |
1.5 miles per dollar | 1.15¢ | |
1.4 miles per dollar | 1.23¢ | |
1.3 miles per dollar | 1.32¢ | |
1.3 miles per dollar | 1.32¢ | |
1.2 miles per dollar | 1.43¢ |
Note: Choc Visa (2 mpd, $1k cap) reportedly no longer works with CardUp.
Cashback:
What I’m Using
I’m going with the UOB PRVI Miles Card (1.4 mpd) for the best rate among entry-level cards. If I had a higher income, I’d consider Citi Prestige (1.3 mpd, better benefits).
Tip: Make Monthly Recurring Income Tax Payments over 12 months To Maximise Cashflow
Step 1: Make a GIRO arrangement with IRAS first.
As you can see the deduction from your bank account will be on the 6th of the month, so you just need to arrange for Cardup to make payments before the deduction happens.
Step 2: Follow the steps above and schedule the monthly recurring payments a week BEFORE the deduction date (in my case, 6th of every month)
Below will be the step-by-step guide for Cardup and iPayMy:
How to pay income tax with credit card using CardUp:
Sign Up for an account
2. Schedule a payment by selecting Income Tax payment type under the Taxes payment category
3. Select the recipient
4.Fill out details such as payment amount, choose the card and select “Standard payment“
5. Schedule a monthly recurring payment (more on that later)
6. Key in your IC Number, enter promo code below and click “Continue”:
- For new users, use code: NICHOLASN116 for S$30 off your first payment to maximise your rewards, or if you have large payments, use code “LOBANGSIS” to get discounted 1.79% fee on up to S$5K on your first payment with a Visa card
7. Submit your documents
- Statement of Account showing your Name, NRIC, Outstanding balance and Date of outstanding balance
After all that, you’re good to go!
- Some photos and Information are from cardup.co
Your dashboard will show the scheduled payments like this:
How to pay income tax with credit card using iPayMy:
Sign Up for an account on iPayMy to get S$30 off
On the dashboard’s upper right, click “Make a Payment”, then select “Tax”
3. Enter the details for your tax bill
4. Choose the Schedule Type whether One-Time or Recurring
- For recurring payment, you need to set up a GIRO arrangement and schedule your payments at least 7 working days before the IRAS debit date each month. If you pay early, IRAS won’t take the payment, as it sees your account is up to date. But you must keep the GIRO arrangement active, or IRAS will ask for the full tax payment.
5. Choose your Payment Date, but note that your card will be charged a few days earlier
6. On the Payment Details screen, you’ll choose the saved credit card you’d like to use, and the standard ipaymy fee of 2.4% will be shown.
7. If you signed up via my referral link, you should have an email (check spam/junk mail) that looks like this, with the promo code that you should enter.
8. Once you applied the code, you should see S$30 deducted off the service fee.
💳 Credit cards change their T&Cs every so often and it is difficult to stay updated. That’s why I created a Telegram Broadcast where you can receive timely bite-sized updates to get the most out of your spending.
💡 We believe in always paying our credit card bills on time and in full. It is only by doing that, can we fully maximise our credit card benefits.
