Update 3/23/25: Tax payments with pay1040 & ACI have been working to count as part of the ‘Tax Prep’ category.
Original Post 3/2/25:
In the Chase app, there is showing a “birthday surprise category” on the Chase Freedom and Freedom Flex cards. In celebration of the 15th birthday of the Chase Freedom, the Freedom cards will earn 5%/5x on Insurance payments and on Tax Preparation Services during the month of March.
The fine print states that the regular quarterly $1,500 limit will apply to these March categories along with the other quarterly categories (Grocery, Fitness, Spa).
Personally, I’ll be maxing out my Freedom Flex card with Grocery since I have the 10x signup bonus for the first year at Grocery. On my other Freedom card, I’ll likely try using up the $1,500 limit in March 2025 on Insurance payments.
Hat tip to reader mangorunner
Update 12/18/24: A reader reached out to let us know that apparently there will be bonus categories each of the quarters in the coming year (2025), in honor of Chase Freedom 5% fifteenth birthday. We’ll find out later in the year what the bonus categories are for Q2, Q3, and Q4.
View Comments (271)
For anyone wondering about State Tax payments, I am in NJ and New Jersey State Tax DID NOT work for the 5% category with Freedom Cards. This was paid through the NJ State Tax website.
What was the MCC? Shows up under 'Merchant type' in the transaction details.
Is anyone else’s quarterly reward counter/tracker super off? I spent $1200 and $1500 on insurance payments, with P1 and P2 freedom cards respectively. Our counters are only showing approx $13 and $18 of earned rewards out of $75. Statements and 5x points have already posted for all the bonus spending so far. No refunds. Thoughts/similar experiences?
Where do you find the reward counter/tracker?
Can I pay my geico or famers bill in march then?
Just did pay1040 $1,500 payment on Freedom. Hoping for the best.
Please let us know 🤞
Can confirm both the payment and the service fee got 5%.
Nice!
Did anyone get 5% bonus for Geico auto insurance payment?
Yes. Can confirm 5% cash back on GEICO.
Yes, the points are currently pending for me.
Insurance is a great category! so is self care. So was vet services. They are doing a great job making this a useful card. Q2 categories are less exciting so it'll be interesting to see the bonus category.
June surprise category is internet, cable, and phone services.
BofA and Citi give $20 cash back for turbotax
DP on Reddit of the March tax prep 5% category working on tax payments at Pay1040. Really shocking to me if true.
Do you know how long does it take for the payment to post to IRS (aka show in irs.gov)?
Generally a couple days to show up as pending, then several more days to fully post (assuming no IRS site maintenance).
Now we're talking. Let's go!
Any way to make more than 2 estimated payments?
You can do two IRS estimated payments per quarter.
Two per payment processor per quarter, and other data points indicate ACI Payments works as well, so four per quarter.
I paid $1500 in taxes through freetaxUSA which uses ACI as the vendor and I got the 5% back. They charged a 2.5% fee for credit cards but with the 5%, it was still worth it. There are 2 separate charges on the statement, one for the fees, one for the payment itself. The payment earned 5x points, the fees earned 1x. I don't know whether it works if you pay taxes directly through ACI on the IRS website, but that charges less in fees. I believe it is something like 1.85%.
Why? It's capped to $75 for all of the quarterly + bonus categories combined.
Per card. Some people have multiple. Though it's a little late in the game on getting tax overpayments back for 2024 tax year.
Useful if you have a balance due for 2024 that you haven't paid yet, or need to make estimated tax payments for 2025.
Why do they make sure to exclude Walmart and Target from the groceries category?
Normal Q2 categories are live, has anyone been able to see the June surprise bonus category as well? (It didn’t show up for me last time and didn’t see anything this time either)
June surprise category is internet, cable, and phone services.
@guest_2027247 where did you learn this?
Nerd Wallet.
Bummer. Got that covered with Ink Cash but could be helpful for some. Maybe Q3 will work better for me.
Mine isn't even showing the Q2 categories yet, can you update me on what the categories are?
Amazon and
Select Streaming Services
Does payment on IRS credit card processor site count as tax preparation?
Anecdotally, yes, but I haven’t tried
Anecdotally by whom?
https://www.reddit.com/r/CreditCards/comments/1jhfo14/chase_freedom_flex_5_cash_back_pay1040/