Some Ways to Squeeze Cashback/Miles Out of Your Income Tax That Still Work (For Now)

Update: check out the updated article for 2021
Tax filing season is ending soon in about two more weeks, and if you have already received your Notice of Assessment (NOA), it’s time to look at some options to squeeze some rewards from your contribution to the nation.
You can pay your income tax via GIRO, or one of the many online payment methods that IRAS accepts. None of these methods gain you any cashback or miles for your payment.
Personally, I’d use ipaymy for my tax payment to score either cashback or miles. For the uninitiated, you can read up on how ipaymy works in a previous article I’ve written.
Here are some ways that are available at the moment:
For cashback
Card | Cashback | ipaymy Fee | Effective Yield |
BOC Family Card | 3% | 1.99% / 1.89% | 1.07% / 1.17% |
Amex True Cashback + GrabPay MasterCard | 3% | 2.25% / 1.89% | 0.82% / 1.17% |
UOB One | 3.33% 5% | 1.99% / 1.89% | 1.41% / 1.5% 3.11% / 3.20% |
2.25% is the usual rate.
1.99% is for using code APR199 during payment for Visa cards.
BOC Family Card
You can only get a maximum of $25 cashback on BOC Family’s online spend category, which is $833, so the sweet spot for your income tax should be around $800 to reach that amount after ipaymy’s fee. If your tax is lower than $800, you will then need to meet the minimum spend of $800 for there to be cashback.
For: People with income tax between $785 to $820.
Amex True Cashback + GrabPay MasterCard
This would work for people who are new to Basic Amex cards. Apply here, and as a new card member, you’ll get 3% on your first $5,000 of spend in the first six months. Should be plenty enough for your income tax and other stuff.
Simply top up your Grab card, and use your GrabPay MasterCard 16-digit number found in the app to make payment on ipaymy.
For: People with income tax of $5,000 and under.
UOB One
UOB One (apply here) gives the best yield for this, but it’s not suitable for a one-off income tax payment since you’ll need three months of consistent spending. People who are already on the UOB One train would find this useful to fulfil a month of spending.
My new quarter just started in February, which means I managed to get two months on Grab top-ups before the Tragic UOB One Nerf, and the income tax payment is timely for me to finish off the quarter on top of some other spend.

Extended until 7th December: sign up for Webull with this link, fund any amount for 30 days and get 10 free shares! That’s US$80 to US$5,000 worth of rewards! Further deposit US$100,000 and get bonus US$3,000!
Subscribe to the Telegram for more great deals and updates. Prefer email or WhatsApp? Tap here.
For miles
Paying your income tax using ipaymy is also a great way to get miles. Essentially, by paying the fee and geting miles as your reward, you are buying miles, and depending on the cost and the rate you redeem it at, this may make a lot of sense.
Card | Miles Per Dollar | ipaymy Fee | Cost Per Mile |
UOB PRVIMiles (Visa) | 1.4 | 1.99% / 1.89% | 1.39¢ / 1.32¢ |
1.2 mpd Visa card | 1.2 | 1.99% / 1.89% | 1.63¢ / 1.55¢ |
1.2 mpd MasterCard | 1.2 | 2.25% / 1.89% | 1.83¢ / 1.55¢ |
UOB PRVIMiles (Visa)
The Visa variant of this card (apply here) will get you a lower fee using the promo code mentioned above. At under 1.40¢ per mile and no cap to worry about, PRVIMiles is quite excellent at scoring business class tickets rather cheaply. Heck, even economy to US starts to make some sense at this rate.
For: People with really high income tax and want to earn miles for business class.
CitiRewards (Visa) + GrabPay MasterCard
No longer works.
The Visa variant of CitiRewards still gives 4 mpd for Grab top-ups, which can then be used for the ipaymy transaction. This gives you an incredible rate of under 0.50¢ per mile.
To truly appreciate how awesome this rate is, imagine travelling to Tokyo on business class for around $600. That’s even less than some economy flights.
Unfortunately, you are limited to a $1,000 monthly capacity, so you may have to top up across months if you have a larger income tax bill. Also, it appears that the Visa variant has been removed for new sign ups. Oh well, should have followed my advice to sign up for cards even if you don’t immediately need it.
For: People who have under $1,000 of income tax.

🔥 Get S$350 or other pricey gifts when you sign up for HSBC credit cards!
Subscribe to the Telegram for more great deals and updates. Prefer email/WhatsApp? Tap here.
1.2 mpd Visa or Mastercard
I included these so you have a sense of how much it costs to buy miles on such cards. You may want to do this over a more efficient rate because you might just need a few more points to redeem an entire block of 10,000 miles, for example.
For: People who need a bit more points on their existing cards.

CardUp
Until 6PM 26th December 2023
Activity | Reward | |
New user: sign up and use code SETHISFY | Get S$30 off transaction fee (free miles/cashback for a payment of about S$1,153!) | |
First transaction ≥ S$2,000 (by 6PM on 26th December 2023) | Receive S$20 eCapitaVoucher by 10th January 2024 |
Last updated 21st November 2023.

ipaymy
Ongoing promo
Activity | Reward | |
New user: sign up here | Get S$30 off transaction fee (free miles/cashback for a payment of about S$1,333!) |
Questions?
If you need help or have any questions, please join my Telegram channel and chat. It’s nearing 300 subscribers and we recently crossed 100 members in the chat. See you there!
Keep up to date on the best cashback/mile cards, financial products, attractive deals, and more tips to maximise your financial wellbeing by subscribing to my Telegram channel.
Subscribe to the channel, then join the group chat. You would often benefit from the tips shared exclusively in the group chat!
Disclaimer: I may receive an affiliate/referral fee when you sign up for services/products on this site, and such fees keep the site running. I would only recommend services/products I would personally use or recommend to my own friends and family, but I do not provide any warranty or guarantee for the quality of these services/products. Thank you for supporting my site!
Please exercise due diligence when signing up for any service/product as I will not be liable for any personal loss, financial or otherwise. Content published here are my sole views and personal opnion, and none of the information here constitutes personal financial advice nor represents the views of my employer(s).
Hi Seth, thanks for the article, if I have already filed for taxes and have opted for Giro, could I change it and how abouts to do so to faciliate the shift from Giro to using ipaymy. Thanks
Hi Seth, Thanks for the article, how do i make the switch over to ipaymy especially if I have already opted for Giro ? Thanks
Based on what others have tried, you can just pay and IRAS will adjust the balance payable accordingly and you shouldn’t cancel the GIRO.
So I dont cancel the GIRO but they wouldnt deduct accordingly right?
You’d have to do it in advance before your next deduction.
Hello Seth,
So are you saying I don’t have to pay my income tax in full on ipaymy, i.e: just pay the same monthly GIRO amount? My understanding before was IRAS did not allow this (partial payment) so just wondering if that’s changed.
Thanks.
I don’t think I said that? 😅
Just pay in full using ipaymy.
Since UOB One nerfed insurance payment, do you think we still can use ipaymy + UOB? Thanks
According to ipaymy and a few user reports, ipaymy is counted.