United Airlines Offers Double Miles for Paying Taxes with United Mileage Plus Visa
By Justin McHenry
If you haven’t yet filed your taxes, United Airlines and Chase are offering you two frequent flyer miles per dollar when you pay the IRS with your United Mileage Plus Visa. Whether you consider that a good deal or not will depend on how much those miles are worth to you. Here’s why:
As IndexCreditCards.com noted last year at tax time, when you pay your taxes with a credit card, you are charged a 2.49% fee. For example, if you have a $1,000 tax bill, you’ll have to pay $24.90 in fees. Using this same example, the United Mileage Plus Visa would give you 2,000 miles for that same $1,000 transaction. In effect, you’d pay $24.90 to buy 2,000 frequent flyer miles in this example.
Is that worth it? Depends on how you use your miles. But it shows that, in general, paying your income taxes with a credit card is not a smart idea.