For a while, the site OfficialPayments.com has been offering people a way to pay a variety of federal, state, and local taxes with their credit card. While you can earn rewards for doing so, the 2.49% processing fee usually canceled everything out. Enter the Citi Cash Returns MasterCard, which offers 5% cash back on purchases for 3 months, with no caps or limits. (Update 4/23: Promotion has changed.)

The trick is then to load up your card as much as you can during the promotional 3 month period. In this case, if you used Official Payments to pay your tax bills which you used to pay by bank account, you’d stll be left with 2.51% of profit on your tax payments, or $251 for each $10,000 in taxes paid. This is especially applicable to me, as I underwitheld my taxes (without penalty) in 2007 by at least $10,000.

Who Else Can You Pay This Way?
Besides federal income taxes and estimated tax payments for sure, there are actually a good variety of options:

Official Payments is the trusted payment services partner of the United States Internal Revenue Services, 25 state governments, the District of Columbia, more than 2,500 local and municipal government agencies, more than 400 colleges and universities, and other public and private interests in all 50 states.

Use the the Who Can I Pay? and enter your zip code for the full list in your area. Being able to pay state income taxes online would be worth at least another $100 in my pocket…

Something More Controversial…
If you’re like me and you know you’ll owe some amount by April 15th to settle your tax bill and avoid late-payment penalties, why not just play it safe and overpay by a safe margin? Then you can file a tax return extension until October 15th and file your actual return at your leisure later on. When you do, you’ll simply be refunded any overpaid tax amount. This is what I had to do last year anyway, even without the carrot of instant 2.51% return on my money.

Timing The 3-Month Window
I’ve been waiting for a good 3-month window where I can max out this card. Given this tax situation and also all my upcoming new house expenses – home improvement, hardwood floors, furniture, moving, etc. – I think the timing is right. I applied tonight, but didn’t get an instant decision, most likely due to my recent move. I’ve been taking it very light on the credit cards lately, so I see no reason not to get approved. 🙂

Confused about the stimulus package? Here’s a quick summary from Bloomberg:

Bush and House lawmakers yesterday agreed on a $150 billion economic stimulus package aimed at avoiding an election-year recession. About $100 billion would pay for tax rebates to about 117 million families and $50 billion for business tax breaks.

The package also addresses the growing number of housing foreclosures with a provision allowing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the largest U.S. mortgage-finance companies, to temporarily buy mortgages of as much as $729,750, up from the current limit of $417,000.

And here’s my short version:

• Singles: If you earn less than $75,000, you’ll get $600. Married couples: If you are filing jointly and earn less than $150,000 combined, and you’ll get $1,200. Additional $300 per kid. Additional details for each scenario in this Treasury Department Factsheet (thanks to commenter cek260).
• This is just the proposal they’ve agreed to vote on, but nothing has been approved yet. Bush hasn’t signed anything. Therefore, there is nothing you need to file or do yet in order to get your check. It is an election year, however…
• You won’t see any checks until May (read: June or July) at the earliest.
• Raising the conforming loan limit is good for folks like me who don’t want to pay 1% more interest for a Jumbo loan. Doesn’t really seem like something to help most middle-class folks, though. Seems to be mainly a product of lobbyists for the banking and housing industry.

But again, nothing firm has actually occurred yet, despite the news frenzy.

First. it was credit cards and their foreign transaction fee settlement. This time, it’s the De Beers diamond company accused of being a naughty monopoly and artificially raising diamond prices. They have reached a tentative settlement which you can learn all about at DiamondClassAction.com. For the consumer, they are proposing to split about $135 million (less fees) to the following eligible consumers:

All persons located in the United States who purchased any diamond or diamond jewelry or other products containing gem diamonds for personal use and not for resale between January 1, 1994 and March 31, 2006. For example, Consumers include people who purchased diamond jewelry to wear or to give as a gift.

Lawyers will get at least 1/3rd, so the pie is more like $80 million. The money will be pro-rated across all claimants, so the more approved claims that there are, the smaller the individual payments will be. In addition, if your share is less than $10.00, no check will be sent to you as a result of “prohibitive administrative costs”. Still, I filled out the form – they asked for name, address, e-mail, and basic jewelry info. Regarding proof:

If you did not buy a diamond or piece of diamond jewelry that cost over $10,000, you do not need to submit documentation at this time. Please remember to keep all documents showing your purchase, such as a receipt, invoice, insurance statement, appraisal, authenticity certificate, or other proof of purchase. You may need to send the documents to the Claims Administrator to prove your purchase at a later time.

I look forward to receiving my check for $15.61 in the year 2011. 😛 Thanks David for the tip.

Am I describing myself? Nah, just my selection of reading over this weekend:

Jeremy of GenXFinance offers a glimpse at his personal experiences while encouraging us not to make bad decisions during this volatile stock market.

My job has good and bad periods, and when the markets are up, everyone loves me and I hear nothing but good things. But at the same time, as soon as the markets begin to show some weakness, my phone is ringing constantly with worried investors. While you can occasionally talk some sense into certain people, others just go off and make irrational decisions.

Madame X of My Open Wallet has a series called New York Stories, which offers up real financial stories from real New Yorkers. I like it because these are kinds of stories you’d hear from your friends, if money wasn’t such a taboo topic. I particularly enjoyed the one by Escape Brooklyn.

Hazzard of Everybody Loves Your Money pointed me towards this post about the simple life. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that simple does not equate to easy. For example, why is it we have to work hard and remember tips to keep things simple? Hmm?!

J.D. of Get Rich Slowly has a nice discussion going on about how to find work that you love. I tend to think that some people really do need to love their work, while others are able to keep a certain amount of detachment from it.

Here are some follow-ups on some recent posts:

Cast Iron Skillet: The Ultimate Smart and Frugal Cookware?

• Amazon actually sent it separately by 2nd-day Air, I can only assume to make sure it arrived without damage. But sending a $15 pot by 2nd-day air? Curious.
• I’ve used it twice to cook steaks and then again for some veggies for fajitas. Seared and delicious! My only comment is that the 12″ model that I got is a beast. If I had to do it again, I’d go for the 10″ model or even the 8″ one to reduce the weight. At least I already own a 12″ lid that fits my skillet perfectly.

Merry Christmas Sweetie! I Got You… Nothing.

• I ended up stumbling onto something small but thoughtful that my wife would like. It’s something that I would have bought her anyways even if it wasn’t for Christmas, but it made me feel a tad less guilty. In any case, I still think it’s better to have unexpected displays of affection.

U-Haul vs. Penske Moving Truck Rentals: Share Your Story

• We ended up going with U-Haul for the local move. The U-Haul truck was pretty beat-up, but I carefully recorded all the dings (most were already marked with stickers) on the contract. Brakes were really mushy, but everything was in working order. We only ended up racking up about 32 miles, and it was pretty uneventful. I would use them again for another local move, but I would have gone with Penske for a long-distance move.

What Are We Saving For, Anyways? Our Life Goals and “Retirement” Plans

• I like these goals so much better, that I’m thinking of getting rid of my $1,000,000 status bar on top. Who cares if I’m 1% closer to a million every couple of months anyways? It doesn’t really even motivate me. I just need to think of a way to measure my progress that’s not simply an income number.

Either by coincidence or due to my subconscious, most of these links have to do with careers and jobs:

SVB at TheDigeratiLife explores the true costs of relocating. Most people move for jobs, but we moved for family first, and found jobs second. Not everyone can make such priorities work in real life, but with a combination of luck and hard work we were able to make it happen. I had written that our jobs had covered an increase in cost of living, but that was wrong. If you count in the higher cost of real estate, we would have definitely been better off financially by staying in Oregon.

Lily of TheHonestDollar isn’t sold on video resumes. I definitely don’t want to do that, text resumes are already hard enough. I like in-person interviews as they provide two-way communication.

Patrick at CashMoneyLife continues his series on applying for an MBA. Right now, all my friends seem to be either getting MBAs or law degrees. Did I miss a memo?

FiveCentNickel observes that beer prices are rising. I was just thinking today that grocery prices seem to be increasing a lot faster than the government inflation numbers that I read about. Even when buying less-processed items like herbs, vegetables, and raw meat for dinner, I was paying $15 for all the ingredients, which is almost as much as just going out to eat!

Mrs. Micah talks about becoming a Certified Financial Planner. I have done some superficial research into that career path. The thing is, I wouldn’t want to work on a commission basis when being in charge of other peoples’ financial well-being. However, it is very, very difficult to start out in this field as a fee-only planner. You have to respect those who go down that path – they could probably earn more money otherwise. I wouldn’t mind learning the material taught in the CFP courses, however.

Shh… I’ve already opened up some of my Christmas gifts. Wait, what is this? A gift card? Nooo!!! Evil!

It’s trendy to bag on gift cards right now. Liz Pulliam Weston says gift cards are not gifts and complains that “holidays have rapidly devolved into what amounts to an exchange of cash. A gift card says nothing about the personality of the recipient — but it says lots about the giver.”. Miss Manners is quoted as saying they are “a pathetic compromise convenient to people who do not trust their judgment about selecting the right present for those whose tastes they ought to know.” Consumer Reports even took out a full-page ad in the New York Times with the following message:

Umm… So? How many *gifts* go sitting unused every year?! How many sweaters, handmade widgets, DVDs, scented candles, or whatever sit in your house right now, collecting dust in a closet. How about just saying “Last year, shoppers like you were out $80 billion because of unused, lost, or inappropriate gifts. Easy money for retailers…”

Truth is, converting cash into gifts of any kind creates the potential for waste. If you don’t want that, either (1) don’t buy gifts at all or (2) give cash.

I agree with Mighty Bargain Hunter when he says that gift cards are gifts. And like any gift, it can be good or bad. You know what happens when I receive a gift? I say thank you, and do what I can with it. Even if it’s hideous or not useful to me. I have mine all stored in baseball card sleeves ready to go.

Idea for gift card compromise?
First, pick something (doesn’t have to be perfect) that is in the price range you want. Then figure out the exact price, including sales tax. Buy a gift card in that amount, and attach a card with an explanation. “I thought you might like Rayman Raving Rabbits 2 for the Wii. Here’s a gift card for $54.86 from Best Buy”. There, you put a little thought into it, but they can use it to buy anything without having to “reject” and return your actual gift.

Also, for the curious, I even investigated which gift cards have the highest resale value. The result was that Amazon gift certificates are the most versatile.

What’s so bad about giving cash, anyhow?
Newsflash: In many cultures and households, giving cash is perfectly acceptable and in many cases even preferred. What are we pretending? That gifts don’t cost money?! I give cash gifts all the time. For more formal gifts I go to the bank and request crisp $20 or $100 bills.

Hazzard points out the story of a Taco Bell employee fired after 30 years of service, including two robberies and being shot once. Seems a bit like ageism to me. I see very little loyalty to companies these days… I wonder why?

Madame X explores if there is any connection between the amount you spend on food and obesity. Apparently at least one of her readers thinks spending $800 a month of food can’t be healthy.

Sun investigates some international dividend ETFs. Seems like ETF offerings are growing exponentially these days, I can’t even keep up.

Joseph Sangl made a graphical way to track his mortgage payoff process. Looks like so far he owns either his garage or living room. That’s one more room than me!

As I catch up on my feed reader, here are some posts from other bloggers that I found interesting:

The Digerati Lifeshares her latest portfolio update. I love open portfolios, I don’t know why.

Lazy Man has left his job, and his wife explains why that’s okay. I left my job about 2 years ago to go back to school and switch specialties, and my wife was very supportive, which made all the difference in the world. Best decision ever. You gotta be able to chase your dreams, even if you’re married!

IndexFundFan noted the arrival of an Emerging Markets Small Value ETF. Holy non-correlated-asset-classes, Batman! I like having more competition and choices, but I don’t think I’ll partake of this one. I wonder what the tracking error on this thing will be.

Get Rich Slowly states that a credit card is not an emergency fund… but then shares a story where it was ;). It was in a small business setting, though – should that make a difference?

CFO tried Dream Dinners, where you make your own take-out for a week. She liked it the first time, but not the second time. I still get a steady stream of comments on my old Dream Dinners post, although I must admit I never cleared out enough space in the freezer to actually try it ourselves.

While getting the numbers for my monthly net worth update, I noticed that Yodlee has added a number of new accounts to their aggregation list. Specifically, I use the licensed version at Bank of America called MyPortfolio. So if you haven’t checked in a while, you might be pleasantly surprised – I think they actually cover all my accounts now. Here are a few sites that I just added, along with some info on why I have an account with them:

Zecco Broker Review, free stock trades!
TradeKing Broker Review, award-winning broker, $4.95 trades
FNBO Direct Review, new online bank with 0.65% APY Promo
Bridgeway Mutual Funds Info, I hold the BRSIX micro-cap mutual fund

See here for more on Yodlee and why I use it.