Paying your taxes isn’t fun – except when you’re using a credit card. That’s because you can pay the IRS with a credit card and earn points and miles. It makes the unfortunate reality of paying Uncle Sam a lot more pleasant.
The IRS offers three different payment processors that accept credit cards for tax payments. The cheapest is PayUSAtax, which charges just a 1.82% fee and accepts all major issuers. Paying 1.82% to earn valuable points that are worth well over two cents each can be quite lucrative.
I look forward to this day every year because I can knock out some much-needed credit card spending. This year, I had no spending requirements to complete. So it came down to which credit card offered the most rewards. I considered using my Capital One Venture Rewards Credit Card for 2X rewards on all spending or my World of Hyatt Credit Card.
Ultimately, the Hyatt Card won out over the Venture card for several reason.
I earned elite night credits
The World of Hyatt Credit Card earns two elite night credits for every $5,000 spent. This is a great way to boost my Hyatt status without wracking up a bunch of stays. I love Hyatt as much as anyone, but I often find their rates are much higher than other hotels and paying more doesn’t always make sense.
I prioritize saving money over pursuing hotel elite status. My philosophy is to pay for the perks I want rather than overpay for hotel stays in order to get an unguaranteed benefit at some point down the line.
That being said, I do appreciate earning hotel elite status via credit card spending. Especially when there are other perks to make them worthwhile. Making progress towards Hyatt elite status was just one of the benefits of paying my taxes with the Hyatt credit card.
I earned a Hyatt Milestone Reward
In between meeting elite status goals, Hyatt rewards its members with Milestone Rewards. These rewards are issued after every ten nights or 15,000 base points.
Elite night credits earned from spending on the Hyatt card count towards Milestone Rewards. This sweetens the deal when charging tax payments to the Hyatt card. That’s because you not only make progress toward higher status but also earn practical rewards along the way.
Members can typically choose between bonus points, room upgrade awards or FIND experience credits. These rewards increase with nights stayed/base points earned.
I earned a Hyatt free night award
After paying my taxes with the Hyatt card, I was thrilled to get an email from Hyatt notifying me I’d hit the threshold for an annual free night award. The Hyatt Card issues one free night annually and a second one when you spend $15,000.
These free nights are valid at Category 1-4 hotels, which typically require 3,500-18,000 points per night. While there’s lots of groaning about the limited usage of these free night awards, they’ve saved me tons of cash over the years. I’ve managed to use my Category 1-4 Hyatt awards at properties abroad as well as the U.S.
I got over $300 in value by redeeming it at the Park Hyatt Istanbul a few years back. When my parents went to Dubai last fall, I used the free night award to book them the Hyatt Regency Dubai Creek that was going for over $400 per night.
Even stateside, the free night award can be incredibly valuable. I used mine in September of this year during a brief overnight stay in Chicago. Hotel rates were through the roof, including the Hyatt Centric Magnificent Mile which was charging $500 per night. I didn’t have many other options, so being able to save $500 and stay someplace convenient was greatly appreciated.
Just got over $500 in value from my Hyatt free night award. 🤯
— Ariana Arghandewal (@PointChaser) September 23, 2024
That $95 annual fee from the Hyatt credit card was well worth it. pic.twitter.com/gi3YcR9QLL
I earned valuable points
Lastly (but surely not least), paying taxes with my Hyatt credit card earned me valuable points. I’m not one to assign a set value to my points, but I regularly manage to get two cents a point or more from Hyatt. For example, this past spring I was attending the WITS Travel Creator Summit in Salt Lake City, Utah.
As expected, hotel rates were high that week. In fact, the Hyatt House in downtown was going for over $400 per night. I redeemed just 8,000 points, getting me a value of five cents per point. Goes to show, you don’t have to fly to the Maldives to get great value from your Hyatt points!
A reminder that you don’t always have to redeem points for high-end travel to get maximum value. Here, I’m getting over 5 cents per point at a Category 2 Hyatt hotel and saving over $1200. pic.twitter.com/5AsVKavko2
— Ariana Arghandewal (@PointChaser) April 5, 2024
Redemptions like these (which happen quite often throughout the year) are why I don’t mind putting large expenses on my Hyatt card. Those points go a long way in saving me money while traveling.
Bottom line
When paying taxes with a credit card, my main criteria centers around rewards. I try to consider other benefits that I might get out of it. Using my Hyatt credit card allowed me to quadruple-dip because I not only earned valuable points, I made progress towards my elite status goals, earned an annual free night award (worth a few hundred bucks) and a Milestone Reward that can make future travels more comfortable.
It was a rewarding decision and one I’ll happily make again next year if I have no credit card spending requirements to complete.
Which credit card did you pay your taxes with and why?
My favorite way to use paying taxes by credit card is to meet minimum requirements for new card spend. Hyatt is a good use for second place, especially if you can get a free night or other benefit like hitting Discoverist.
Same! I had no spending requirements to meet so I focused on maximizing rewards.