Inland Revenue now have the facility to make payments using your credit or debit card on their website. There is a 1.42% convenience charge that you will incur, however there may be some advantages to using this payment method if you are having cashflow difficulties.

A few things to consider:

• You may have up to 55 days interest free on your credit card - so by paying Inland Revenue when your payment is due you can then use this free credit time to repay your credit card
• Unless a repayment arrangement is setup with IRD prior to an amount being due they will charge you a 1% late payment penalty on payments 1-6 days late then another 4% for payments overdue 7 days or more. They will keep adding additional penalties and interest until the amount is paid or until a formal arrangement is in place
• The 1.42% convenience fee is tax deductible however the late payment penalties charged (and in some cases interest) are not tax deductible
• The payment is not treated as a cash advance so if you are enrolled in Air Points, Hot Points or other credit card rewards plans you should get points for this transaction

Posted 8/03/2011 – Updated 3/09/2014

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