You can earn RICH rewards by paying big tax bills with a credit card but follow our advice to stay safe

Points and miles fanatics are always hunting for new opportunities to rack up rewards.

It’s tax season, which raises an obvious question: Does it make sense to pay off a big tax bill with a credit card?

Experts say it depends – on the credit card.

The IRS accepts credit cards via third-party payment processors who charge fees, typically 1.75 percent to 1.85 percent of each payment.

At first glance, this looks like a good benchmark: Use a rewards credit card that earns at least 2 percent cash back or an equivalent in points and miles.

But let’s get real, while there may be plenty of no-fee cash-back cards that pay 2 percent on everything, your net rewards after the fee will run 0.15 to 0.25 percent of the tax payment.

On a $10,000 tax bill, that’s a grand total of $15 to $25 in rewards – so you’re not exactly striking it rich.

But wait! There are still a few scenarios where paying your tax bill with a rewards credit card could earn you a decent reward.

Many credit cards offer impressive welcome bonuses – perks and thousands of points – to new card holders.

To benefit from the bonuses, you need to spend a set dollar amount within a relatively short period of time after opening the account.

The bigger the spending requirement, the bigger the bonus.

Take the Chase Sapphire Preferred card, which as of this writing offers new cardholders 75,000 in bonus points after they spend $5,000 in the first three months from account opening.

Opening a new Sapphire Preferred card and using it to settle an outstanding IRS tax bill might be just the ticket to earning 75,000 points.

Chase claims this could be worth up to $750 when redeemed for travel expenses through their in-house Chase Travel portal. 

The processing fee on the tax bill would be $87.50, leaving you with hundreds in free money to spend on travel.

Add in the Sapphire Preferred’s $95 annual fee, which also entitles you to a range of other benefits, and your all-in cost is around $183. In this case, the rewards juice might just be worth the tax squeeze.

Hotel connoisseurs might consider the Marriott Bonvoy Boundless credit card, which gives new cardholders three free nights in a Marriott hotel after they spend $3,000 in the first three months – and earn a fourth free night after spending another $1,000.

Plus, this card gives holders an annual free night on the anniversary of opening their card, all for a $95 annual fee. 

‘This is the kind of outstanding welcome bonus you can knock out by settling a big tax bill with the IRS and still justify the processing fee,’ Robin Saks Frankel, associate producer at CardCon, told the Daily Mail.

The value of five free hotel nights would far exceed the cost of paying the processing fee on a $4,000 tax bill plus the annual card fee. 

Frankel warned that while earning credit card welcome offers with a big tax payment might give you a great year-one bonus, people need to carefully weigh whether they can keep spending enough on a given card in year two and beyond to justify paying a card’s annual fee.

The Marriott Bonvoy Boundless card offers plenty of great points deals for frequent travelers who stay at Marriott brand and related hotels, but it might not make sense to keep the card if don’t do a lot of travel.

At least one source thinks paying your taxes with a credit card is a terrible idea.

‘Only look at this as an absolute last resort even if you can pay it off next month,’ said Ted Jenkins, managing partner at financial advisory Exit Wealth.