Paying Taxes and the Broadcasting Fee with a Credit Card: Is It Possible? (2026)

Quick answer: No, it doesn’t work directly. The German tax office (Finanzamt) accepts bank transfer, SEPA direct debit and crossed check — card payment is explicitly ruled out by the tax authorities. The broadcasting fee service (Beitragsservice) lists only direct debit and bank transfer, and the vehicle tax is collected by customs via a mandatory direct debit mandate. You can still earn miles on all of these payments, though: via an account topped up by credit card (the Revolut method with Miles & More) or the recurring-expenses hack from the Premium Handbook, which also works with AMEX.

Income tax prepayments, back payments, vehicle tax, property tax and the broadcasting fee: for the self-employed, these quickly add up to five-figure amounts a year; for employees, at least a few hundred euros. All money that flows anyway — and on which practically nobody earns points. In this guide, we’ll clarify what really works with government agencies, why the answer “no” isn’t the end of the story, and how you can still squeeze miles out of your levies. One thing up front: this is exclusively about the payment method, not about tax planning. This is not tax advice.

What works directly for taxes and levies — and what doesn’t

I checked the payment instructions of the authorities. The result is unambiguous:

Levy	Recipient	Payment methods listed	Credit card?
Income, VAT, trade tax	Tax office (Finanzamt)	Bank transfer, SEPA direct debit, crossed check	No — card payment explicitly excluded
Vehicle tax	Main customs office (Hauptzollamt)	SEPA direct debit (mandatory at registration)	No
Broadcasting fee	Beitragsservice of ARD, ZDF, Deutschlandradio	SEPA direct debit, bank transfer (cash only without a checking account)	Not provided for
Property tax	Municipality	Per the assessment notice: direct debit or bank transfer	As a rule, no

In detail:

Tax office. On its payment page, the tax administration of North Rhine-Westphalia lists bank transfer, check (crossed checks only) and the SEPA direct debit procedure “for all taxes and levies” — cash payment is excluded. The Lower Saxony State Tax Office puts it even more clearly: “Card payments (giro, debit or credit card) are likewise not possible.” There’s no payment function in ELSTER; you transfer the money yourself or grant a direct debit mandate (in some federal states now directly via Mein ELSTER). Important for bank transfers: the payment only counts as made on the day it’s credited to the tax office’s account.

Vehicle tax. Since 2014, registering a vehicle has only been possible with a SEPA direct debit mandate for the vehicle tax — the City of Cologne states verbatim that you can “only register” a vehicle if you “simultaneously grant a SEPA direct debit mandate for the collection of the motor vehicle tax.” Collection is handled by the responsible main customs office. You have no choice of payment method here at all — only the choice of account.

Broadcasting fee. On rundfunkbeitrag.de, the Beitragsservice lists SEPA direct debit (“convenient and offers the greatest security”), bank transfer (with the 9-digit contribution number as the reference, payee “Rundfunk ARD, ZDF, DRadio”) and cash payment only for people without a checking account. Credit card or PayPal don’t appear. The fee is €18.36 a month; the statutory amount due is €55.08 per three-month period, and monthly payment is not provided for. Since October 2025, anyone paying by bank transfer no longer receives regular payment requests, but a one-time letter with their personal payment dates — after that, you have to keep track of the deadlines yourself.

The big overview of all recurring-expense categories is in the main article Paying Recurring Expenses with a Credit Card. The workaround we’re about to cover is the same one as in the guide Paying Rent with a Credit Card — only the amounts are often larger with taxes.

The workaround: Turning a card payment into a bank transfer

Since no authority takes your card, you reverse the order: you top up an account with the credit card, and from that account the transfer goes to the tax office or the Beitragsservice’s direct debit is drawn. The card spend happens at the top-up — and so do the miles.

The best-known free route is Revolut:

1. You top up your free Revolut account with your Miles & More credit card → card spend → miles
2. You transfer the tax from Revolut by SEPA to the tax office (tax number, tax type and period as the reference) — or switch the direct debit mandate for the broadcasting fee to your Revolut IBAN

The tax office receives a perfectly normal bank transfer. How the money got into your account is irrelevant to the authority.

Conditions of the Revolut method (as of October 2026)

	M&M personal cards	M&M business cards
Top-up limit	€5,000/month (shared with finance platforms)	No limit
Revolut fee	None	1.33%
Earn rate	1 mile / €2	1 mile / €1
Max. miles/month	2,500	Unlimited

With taxes, the €5,000 limit is the decisive bottleneck: a quarterly prepayment of €2,500 fits — a back payment of €8,000 doesn’t. Then the only option is to spread the amount over two months (if the deadline allows) or to take a different route.

The catches

• Terms-of-service gray area: Revolut’s terms prohibit “looping” and the mere transfer of money from credit card accounts. As long as you also use Revolut as a normal account, the risk is low — there’s no guarantee.
• AMEX does NOT work: Revolut doesn’t accept American Express for top-ups.
• Deadlines: With taxes, what counts is the credit at the tax office, not your transfer date. A late-payment surcharge costs more than the miles are worth.

Which card for taxes and levies?

For the Revolut method you need a Miles & More credit card:

• M&M Blue Personal* (€5.50/month) — 1 mile per €2, Revolut top-up free of charge, 500 miles + 40 Points welcome bonus (until 31 December 2026).
• M&M Gold Personal* (€11.50/month) — currently 20,000 miles + 4 lounge vouchers + 40 Points (until 30 November 2026).

For the recurring-expenses hack (see below), AMEX’s higher earn rate pays off — especially with the large amounts involved in taxes:

• AMEX Gold* (€240/year) — 1 MR per euro, with Punkteturbo (€15/year) 1.5 MR per euro up to €40,000 spend a year. 50,000 MR welcome bonus from €5,000 spend in 6 months — two prepayments, and the minimum spend is done.
• AMEX Business Platinum* (€850/year) — for the self-employed with high prepayments: 200,000 MR welcome bonus from €15,000 spend in 6 months.

Which AMEX suits you is covered in the decision guide.

Worked example: Self-employed person with €10,000 in prepayments

Let’s take a self-employed person with four income tax prepayments of €2,500 each (due on 10 March, 10 June, 10 September and 10 December, Section 37 of the German Income Tax Act), plus the broadcasting fee of €220.32 a year:

Card / route	Earn rate	Miles or points per year (€10,220)
M&M personal via Revolut	1 mile / €2	5,110 miles
M&M business via Revolut (−1.33% fee ≈ €136)	1 mile / €1	10,220 miles
AMEX via recurring-expenses hack	1 MR / €1	10,220 MR
AMEX with Punkteturbo via recurring-expenses hack	1.5 MR / €1	15,330 MR

For employees without prepayments, the leverage is smaller: the broadcasting fee alone earns around 330 MR a year with AMEX and the Turbo, the vehicle tax a few hundred more depending on the vehicle. But together with rent, electricity and insurance, a household reaches €2,000 in recurring expenses a month — and then it’s 24,000 MR per year, 36,000 MR with the Turbo. Taxes are the item where the amounts are largest.

Step by step: Paying taxes and levies via the workaround

1. Gather amounts and deadlines. Prepayment notice, vehicle tax assessment from the main customs office, payment dates from the Beitragsservice. Put the due dates in your calendar — there’s no leniency with government agencies.
2. Open a Revolut account and add the Miles & More credit card as the top-up source.
3. Top up in good time. At least a week before the due date, so that the transfer and credit are safely before the deadline.
4. Transfer to the tax office. From Revolut to the bank details on the tax assessment, with tax number, tax type and period in the reference. Always use the account of the responsible tax office, not a state treasury.
5. Broadcasting fee. Either a bank transfer with the contribution number — or switch the direct debit mandate to your Revolut IBAN, then you no longer have to keep track of dates.
6. Vehicle tax. Here there’s only direct debit. The mandate runs on the account you specified at registration; you report a change of account to the main customs office.
7. Pay the card bill in full. Especially with four-figure tax amounts: interest on partial payments instantly turns the mileage gain into a loss.

Pitfalls: Deadlines, limits, terms

Deadlines are hard. At the tax office, the day of credit counts. For the broadcasting fee, a late-payment surcharge of 1 percent of the outstanding contribution debt, but at least 8 euros, becomes due with the assessment notice. Never top up “at the last minute.”

The €5,000 limit. With personal cards, it’s enough for prepayments but not for large back payments. And it applies jointly to all other recurring expenses you run through Revolut.

Revolut terms. The gray area remains — anyone who uses the account exclusively to pass through credit card money risks a restriction.

No tax advice. The payment method changes nothing about tax liability, amount or deadline. If you have questions about the tax itself, a tax advisor is the right person to ask, not this guide.

Prepayments, broadcasting fee, vehicle tax — all through AMEX, with no limit? The recurring-expenses hack from the Premium Handbook turns every direct debit and bank transfer into card spend. It works with AMEX and Miles & More, with no €5,000 ceiling and no gray area. With AMEX and Punkteturbo, that’s 1.5 MR per euro — at €2,000 in monthly recurring expenses, up to 36,000 points/year. To the Premium Bundle (€99) →

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I pay taxes directly to the tax office with a credit card?

No. The tax administration lists bank transfer, SEPA direct debit and crossed check as payment methods; cash payment is excluded, and according to the Lower Saxony State Tax Office, card payments with giro, debit or credit cards are likewise not possible. ELSTER has no payment function either. Miles are only available via the workaround: an account topped up by credit card, from which the transfer to the tax office is made.

Can I pay the broadcasting fee with a credit card?

Not directly. On rundfunkbeitrag.de, the Beitragsservice lists only SEPA direct debit and bank transfer (cash only without a checking account). But you can switch the direct debit mandate to an account you top up with a Miles & More credit card — then the fee of €55.08 per three-month period earns miles.

Can the vehicle tax be paid by credit card?

No. Since 2014, vehicle registration has only been possible with a SEPA direct debit mandate for the vehicle tax, collected by the main customs office. You don’t choose a payment method, only the account — and that can be an account topped up by credit card.

Does the Revolut method work with AMEX?

No. Revolut doesn’t accept American Express for top-ups; the route only works with Miles & More credit cards (Mastercard). Anyone who wants to earn AMEX Membership Rewards on taxes and levies needs the recurring-expenses hack from the Premium Handbook.

How many miles do €10,000 in tax prepayments earn?

5,000 miles with an M&M personal card (1 mile/€2), 10,000 miles with an M&M business card (1 mile/€1, minus the 1.33% Revolut fee), or up to 15,000 AMEX MR with Punkteturbo (1.5 MR/€). With personal cards, the €5,000 monthly limit applies — quarterly prepayments of €2,500 fit within it.

Is this legal?

Yes. The tax office receives a perfectly normal bank transfer from an account in your name; where the balance comes from is irrelevant to the authority. The gray area isn’t with the tax office but in Revolut’s terms, which prohibit “looping” and pure pass-through of money from credit cards. For tax purposes, nothing changes as a result of the payment method.

Conclusion

The tax office, the main customs office and the Beitragsservice don’t take credit cards — and that won’t change anytime soon. But the answer “no” only applies to direct payment. With the Revolut method and a Miles & More card, you earn miles for free on prepayments, the broadcasting fee and vehicle tax, as long as you keep an eye on the €5,000 ceiling and the deadlines. And if you want the maximum — AMEX MR, 1.5 points per euro, no limit and no gray area — then the recurring-expenses hack is the route that covers taxes and all other recurring expenses at once.

You’ll find the complete recurring-expenses hack with step-by-step instructions in the Premium Bundle (€99) — together with 12 more strategies, the 6-month master plan and the AudioBook.

Further reading:

• Paying Recurring Expenses with a Credit Card - The big overview of all recurring-expenses strategies
• Paying Rent with a Credit Card - The biggest item in the household budget
• Paying Electricity and Gas with a Credit Card - Miles on energy costs
• Paying Insurance with a Credit Card - Where cards are accepted directly
• Earning Miles: The 7 Best Methods 2026 - The overall strategy
• Activating AMEX Punkteturbo - Unlock 1.5 MR per euro
• Which AMEX Card Is Right for Me? - The decision guide