Disclaimer: My bias in the direction of CardUp is actual, particularly given the way it has been a fail-proof resolution for me for the final 8 years. However right here’s how the opposite choices to get miles whereas paying your taxes to IRAS presently stack up anyway, and how one can determine for your self.
In terms of paying your earnings taxes, the default methodology is for IRAS to deduct these funds through GIRO via your checking account. Nonetheless, this default methodology isn’t going to get you miles. So in case you have a sizeable tax invoice (at the least 4 digits) and need to get a major quantity of miles for paying your earnings taxes, you’d need to be smarter and route it via a third-party cost processor.
You possibly can both use an unbiased service similar to CardUp, or a financial institution cost facility i.e. Citi PayAll, SC EasyBill or UOB Cost Facility. This publish compares these choices so you’ll be able to determine what works greatest for you.
Right here’s a little bit of historical past: Up to now, there was no manner you might earn miles in your earnings taxes as funds to authorities establishments have been explicitly excluded from incomes rewards within the T&Cs of your bank cards. CardUp disrupted that after they launched in 2016 with a MAS license, and allowed Singapore residents to earn miles or cashback on previously-excluded funds for the primary time!
Because the banks watched CardUp’s reputation and utilization develop, some banks determined joined in to supply their very own cost processing facility – Citibank, Commonplace Chartered and UOB. To start with, these banks provided promotional charges to entice clients to change away from CardUp to their very own financial institution cost facility, however over time, these promotional charges have come down considerably, whereas commonplace price charges and minimal spend necessities have all however gone up.
2025 Comparability
| Cardup | Citi PayAll | SC EasyBill | UOB Cost Facility | |
| Admin Charge | 1.73% (OCBC VOYAGE & Premier Visa Infinite Playing cards) 1.75% (Visa, UnionPay) |
2.6% (beforehand 2.2%) | 1.9% | 1.6% – 4.7% (varies by playing cards and instalments)
1.8% for non-HNW UOB cardholders |
| Downsides | Promo charges final till Aug 2024.
No promo charges for MasterCard or AMEX playing cards. |
Just for restricted Citi playing cards: Citi ULTIMA Card Citi Status Card Citi PremierMiles Card Citi Rewards Card.
Clients with out an present Citi banking relationship should first spend min. S$6,000 on non-tax funds (at 1.6 mpd) with a view to unlock promo charges (2 mpd) for tax funds. |
No choice for recurring funds i.e. you must pay your complete earnings tax in full without delay. | Earns solely 1 mpd with all UOB playing cards.
Promo charges finish the earliest i.e. on 30 April 2025. Fees and rewards (mpd) varies between UOB playing cards (test right here). |
As a client who has been utilizing CardUp to pay for my earnings taxes (and extra) all this whereas, I’ve been monitoring this scene for the final 8 years and have seen that whereas a number of the banks have hopped onto this bandwagon to compete, their promotions and adaptability are nonetheless not as nice as CardUp’s.
The most important trade-off with utilizing a lot of the banks’ cost facility is that they both require you to make your tax cost in full for the bottom processing charges, or restrict your rewards to a small handful of bank cards.
UOB Cost Facility
When you’re a UOB cardholder, the one card that offers you decrease charges than CardUp’s 1.75% is the UOB Reserve Credit score Card, supplied you could repay your complete earnings tax invoice in full suddenly.
In any other case, for those who’re utilizing some other UOB bank cards, then CardUp will probably be a more sensible choice as you’ll pay decrease charges (1.75% vs. 2.3%) and you earn the next 1.4 mpd moderately than simply 1 mpd.
What’s extra, you must word that any quantities charged to the UOB Cost Facility don’t depend in the direction of the financial institution’s minimal spend for redeeming your welcome affords, nor are they typically counted in the direction of the necessities for an annual price waiver.
UOB Cost Facility isn’t the most cost effective manner of shopping for miles, so in case you have a legit invoice to pay, you might nearly definitely earn larger rewards for much less via a platform like CardUp.
SC EasyBill
When you’re a Commonplace Chartered cardholder who can repay your complete earnings tax in full suddenly and don’t thoughts paying barely larger processing charges (1.9%).
Nonetheless, the earn charges aren’t implausible:
- StanChart Past Card: 1.5 (Commonplace) to 2mpd (PB/PP)
- StanChart Visa Infinite: 1 to 1.4 mpd (if min. month-to-month spend of S$2,000 is hit)
- StanChart Journey Card: 1.2 mpd
Different SC playing cards earn lower than 1 mpd, so don’t hassle. Contemplating the most effective card on this checklist can be eligible to pair with CardUp at a decrease price (1.75%), I really feel it’s a no-brainer to make use of CardUp as a substitute.
Do word that SC EasyBill solely helps one-time cost requests, so you can not use it to pay your month-to-month instalments for IRAS.
Citi PayAll
There was as soon as a time when Citibank used to run extra aggressive promotions to battle for CardUp’s share of the market vs. its personal Citi PayAll facility, however as of late appear to be over.
Not solely have they elevated their charges from 2.2% to 2.6% at present, they’ve additionally restricted the rewards to simply 4 miles playing cards: Citi ULTIMA Card (by-invitation solely, excessive net-worth people), Citi Status Card, Citi PremierMiles and the Card Citi Rewards Card.
Final 12 months, for patrons with out an present and energetic Citi banking relationship, Citi imposed a minimal spend of S$5,000 on non-tax transactions on a single card to ensure that cardholders earlier than they may get rewarded for earnings tax funds, however that has since been hiked to $6,000 this 12 months. That is unhealthy information for you guys who’re simply hoping to pay their taxes and nothing else.
In accordance with The Milelion, a leak means that Citi is perhaps bumping up the miles earn fee to 2 mpd on tax funds made 18 April – 31 August 2025. Again in 2022, the promotional fee was 2.5 mpd.
In contrast to UOB, Citi PayAll transactions will depend in the direction of the qualifying spend required in your welcome affords and card-related advantages.
For HSBC cardholders
When you didn’t already know, HSBC already discontinued its Revenue Tax Cost Programme a couple of years in the past, and have particularly excludes CardUp funds from incomes rewards.
So for those who’re a HSBC cardholder, you’d be foolish to make use of your HSBC card to pay your earnings taxes. Go for a unique card as a substitute.
Use CardUp for those who want recurring funds
When you’re paying your earnings tax in month-to-month instalments, CardUp is the only option amongst the entire above choices, as a result of you’ll be able to arrange recurring funds each month and nonetheless benefit from the promotional charges so long as you’re utilizing a Visa or UnionPay card:
| For month-to-month instalments | For one-off funds | |
| Promo code | BBTAX25R | VTAX25ONE |
| Charge cost | 1.75% | 1.75% |
| Cost kind | One-off and recurring | One-off and recurring |
| Expiry date | Should be scheduled earlier than 31 August 2025. See T&Cs right here. |
Final cost on 23 Could 2025 |
A lot of the different choices mandate that you just repay your tax invoice in a single sitting as a substitute.
TLDR: One of the simplest ways to earn miles in your earnings tax funds? CardUp.
When you’re utilizing DBS / OCBC / HSBC / BOC / Commonplace Chartered / Maybank / UOB playing cards to pay your earnings taxes, CardUp is a no brainer choice so you’ll be able to earn miles.
Tips on how to calculate your value per mile?
A $5,000 tax invoice put via CardUp, as an illustration, can earn 8,000 miles on a 1.6 mpd card at a price of $87.50 processing charges. That’s equal to purchasing miles at ~1.09 cents every, which is the bottom amongst all its opponents.
See the eligible playing cards to pair with CardUp right here. It’s a protracted checklist – for much longer than any of the banks’ cost services.
I began with CardUp as a result of they have been the primary to make it attainable for me to earn miles on my earnings tax funds, however over time, these of you who monitored the scene like I did would have seen that whereas CardUp principally stored their charges the identical (1.75%) all through the years, the banks have been fickle and gotten much less beneficiant over time.
In case you have a OCBC VOYAGE or Premier Visa Infinite card, the financial institution has an ongoing promotion with CardUp at a fair decrease 1.73% charges. Enter OCBCTAX173 within the promo code.
Citi cardholders with an present banking relationship may nonetheless discover the two mpd provide compelling (supplied that the leak proves to be true), however for the remainder of us cardholders, CardUp is a no brainer choice this 12 months in 2025.
See this information on easy methods to arrange your earnings tax funds with CardUp right here.
When you’re questioning why I’ve not included iPayMy on this checklist, that’s as a result of they’re nearly just like CardUp (which I personally use). Additionally, the cardboard I exploit for earnings tax funds is a UOB card, which particularly excludes iPayMy so I can not earn rewards and haven’t been ready to make use of it there.
Which bank card do you have to use on CardUp?
Personally, I’ve used my UOB PRVI Miles with CardUp since 2017 as a result of it has been incomes me a candy 1.4 mpd all through all these years. The identical card will get me just one mpd if I put it via the UOB Cost Facility. Nonetheless, because the promotional fee for earnings tax through MasterCard on CardUp this 12 months is way larger at 2.25%, I will probably be switching to my Visa card for my IRAS funds to get 1.75% as a substitute utilizing the BBTAX25R promo code.
For many of us, 1.4 mpd is the candy spot with many playing cards providing that earn fee on CardUp, together with however not restricted to:
- UOB PRVI Miles
- UOB Visa Infinite Steel
- Commonplace Chartered Visa Infinite (on native spend >S$2k a month)
In any other case, the 1.2 mpd class additionally has the widest vary of mass-market playing cards that may be paired with CardUp:
- Citi PremierMiles
- DBS Altitude
- Maybank Visa Infinite
- UOB Krisflyer
When you’re privileged sufficient to personal a by-invite-only high-end card just like the DBS Vantage, DBS Insignia, Citi ULTIMA or UOB Reserve, then you’ll be able to probably earn the next 1.6 mpd in your CardUp funds.
If that is your first time utilizing CardUp, use the code BUDGETBABE to save lots of S$30 off your first transaction with no minimal spend required. This lets you earn free miles on a cost of as much as S$1,154 (primarily based on CardUp’s common admin price of two.6%).
Or use BBTAX25R to get the bottom 1.75% charges in your earnings tax funds.
Like this hack? Bear in mind to share it along with your family members to allow them to cease shortchanging themselves of miles they may have in any other case earned! 😉
Save in your CardUp funds whenever you use my affiliate promo codes BBTAX25R (in your earnings tax) or BUDGETBABE (for each different cost sorts).
Full Disclosure: The hyperlinks embedded right here on this publish are not affiliate hyperlinks, however merely to make it simpler so that you can take a look at extra info on the totally different cost web sites. I'll earn a small affiliate price in case you are new to CardUp and use my promo code. I earn completely nothing in case you are already an present person and use my code - particularly for those who signed up anytime previous to 2024 (between 2017 to 2024 after I've been actively recommending CardUp, I used to be not paid any affiliate charges or referral advantages aside from the identical referral next-fee-payment-waiver which regular shoppers received.
With love,
Finances Babe
