Mommy Points - Did You Earn Miles for Paying Taxes?

As is true in houses all around the country, this April 15th has not been an overly fun day, so to switch to putting a more positive lens on the money many of us have to part with today, I wanted to get a rough idea of how many families earned miles and points for their tax payments.

This is one of those methods of earning miles and points that is going to cost you one way or another, and can involve more steps than some people are interested in.  If you have a mileage earning debit card like the SunTrust card that earns Delta SkyMiles then the cost can be very minimal with a flat fee as low as about $3.  However, if you are hoping to put your tax bill on a credit card, then you are looking at fees of at least 1.88%.  Some people like to mitigate that fee by purchasing Amex gift cards via a portal that gives them cash back.  Some folks also employ the usefulness of BlueBird and Vanilla Reloads.  And others just say "to heck with it" and mail in a check the old fashioned way.

I'll be honest and say that this April 15h I skipped worrying about earning miles as it was just getting too complicated for our situation, but we will hopefully be shifting to working on earning miles for our quarterly estimated taxes going forward as it can be a good way to earn some miles for something you were going to do anyway.  Even if you just pay it straight up via a credit card with a fee (lowest is 1.88%) it can still be worth it if you are triggering an annual spending bonus perk or hitting a spending requirement that you otherwise would have a hard time meeting.

Coming from someone who isn't earning miles today myself, don't beat yourself up if the fees or hassle sounds like more trouble than it's worth for you and/or your spouse.  It might be.  However, it is still good to have at least a vague idea of what the options are for the future.

While it may be too late for you this tax year, if you really want to learn the nitty gritty of some different ways to maximize paying taxes going forward head to Frequent Miler's posts here and here.

Via: American Airlines fixed glitch, resume flights