Twice a year I have to pay property tax. Twice a year I make $500-$750 tax-free paying that tax. You can too!
First of all, I do not magically get $500-$750 by paying my property tax.
I do this: Instead of paying my property tax with a check, I pay it with a new credit card that gives me a $500-$750 tax-free bonus for meeting the card’s spending requirement.
I offer the idea of paying your property tax because in many cases it will easily meet a large spending requirement in one fell swoop. Then you don’t have to think about the spending requirement and you can get on with your life – spending that tax-free $500-$750!
I dunno about you, but us Los Angelinos’ property tax is “due” now but it is “not late” until April 11th. So you have time to get a new card, pay your property taxes, and have an extra $500-$750 splurgings!
What are these cards of which I speak, you say? Three come to mind. Details below.
Chase Sapphire Preferred (personal card) – Bottom line: $590 tax-free.
Chase Ink Business Preferred (biz card) – Bottom line: $755 tax-free
Capital One Spark Cash (biz card) – Bottom line: $590 tax-free
If you have gotten a Chase bonus in the past, you need to wait 24 months before you can it on that specific card again. So if you got the bonus on the Chase Sapphire Preferred last year, try the Ink or Spark cards this year.
To get the bonuses on these cards, the spending requirements are $4,000-5,000. That is a lot of cheddar! So is my property tax bill. I paid my property tax with the card at the City’s Website.
Normally, I would NOT suggest using a credit card to pay property taxes because there is a 2.25% fee ($22.50 per $1,000) in California. But these cards’ cashback covers about half or most of that and the BONUS is huge. My property taxes are high enough to meet the spending requirement in a just a few clicks!
If you don’t have property taxes to dump on this card to meet the spending requirement (and get your $500-$750 tax free bonus) in a few clicks – use it for your everyday spending over the next three months. Read my post 11 Ways to Meet a Spending Requirement.
If you are like me and don’t work under a legal entity, you can still get business cards. Check out how: How To Fill Out A Business Card Application
For more info on these cards, to get this card – Email me. Or… under “Chip’s Favorite Credit Card Offers” at the top right side of this website. Then click “Travel Rewards Credit Cards” or “Business Credit Cards” for these cards.
Email me if you have any questions. Full disclosure: I may get a commission if you use my links so… Thanks!
- Chase Sapphire Preferred (click “Travel Rewards Credit Cards” then scroll to 2nd card down).
- You get bonus of 50,000 Ultimate Rewards Points after you spend $4,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- Earn 5,000 bonus points after you add the first authorized user and make a purchase in the first 3 months from account opening
- You can earn this bonus once every 24 months, in case you earned it in the past.
Each point can be redeemed for cash (a penny apiece), or transferred to many airline and hotels at 1:1 ratio.
- Meeting the $4,000 spend will get you the 50,000 bonus + 4,000 (a point for each dollar spent) = 54,000 points.
- Add an authorized user during the application process to get another 5,000 points. It can be anyone. You don’t have to give the person the card.
So… 50,000 + 4,000 + 5,000 (auth user) = 59,000 or $590 tax-free (no tax because it is technically a rebate).
- Chase Ink Business Preferred Credit Card (click “Business Credit Cards” then scroll to 3rd card down).
- You get a bonus of 80,000 Ultimate Rewards points after you spend $5,000 on purchases in the first 3 months from account opening.
- The $95 annual fee is not waived. Since the points are worth a penny apiece, it is equivalent to getting 70,500 points and having the annual fee waived.
- Earn at least 1 point per $1 on all purchases—with no limit to the amount you can earn
As with Chase Sapphire (above) each point can be redeemed for cash (a penny apiece), or transferred to many airline and hotels at 1:1 ratio.
- Meeting the $5,000 spend will get you the 80,000 bonus + 5,000 (a point for each dollar spent) = 85,000 points
So… 80,000 + 5,000 = 85,000 or $850 tax-free. Comparing apples to apples, deducting that $95 annual fee leaves you with $755 tax-free (no tax because it is technically a rebate).
You can get this even if you are not a corporation or LLC, etc. Here is How To Fill Out A Business Card Application
- The “Capital One Spark Cash for Business” (click “Business Credit Cards” and it is the 2nd card).
- You get a one-time $500 cash bonus once you spend $4,500 on purchases within 3 months of approval
- Earn unlimited 2% cash back on all purchases
Meeting the $4,500 spend will get you the $500 bonus + $90 (2% cashback on the $4,500) = $590 tax-free (because it is technically a rebate).
Here is How To Fill Out A Business Card Application. You can have multiple Spark cards for multiple businesses. Surprisingly, I got FOUR Capital One Spark Cash for Biz cards in a 14 month span. They were all as “sole-proprietorship”. None were entities like LLCs, or S-Corps, etc.
