Chalmers denies Albanese rolled him on ATO credit card delay
Jim Chalmers has denied Anthony Albanese rolled him over the decision to delay the ATO ban on credit card payments for tax bills.
Speaking on 14 October 2026, Chalmers rejected suggestions he had been overruled. He said the longer transition was a joint call. The denial followed days of briefing that Albanese had personally intervened to stop the ban The Guardian.
The sequence is agreed. Tax Commissioner Rob Heferen had announced the ATO would stop accepting credit cards from 1 December. Albanese then stepped in. Albanese said Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry boss Andrew McKellar texted him last Thursday morning, and by Friday morning there was an announcement on the issue.
Chalmers puts it differently. He said he and Albanese were in talks on Wednesday of last week and agreed on a longer transition for the ATO. He said he and Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino then took a proposal to ministerial colleagues. Chalmers announced the delay in Brisbane, with new funding for the ATO to keep taking cards until the end of the financial year.
The policy detail is this. Heferen said keeping card payments would cost the ATO almost $200m a year because the costs cannot legally be passed on to card users. The ATO move followed a Reserve Bank ban on surcharges. Credit and debit card surcharges ended on 1 October 2026.
About 5% of small businesses are estimated to use credit cards for tax bills. For those firms, the card is cashflow, much like a short overdraft to meet a due date. It lets a quarterly BAS or income tax bill be paid on time, with interest paid to the bank rather than penalties owed to the ATO.
What they get now is time. A Treasury ministers release said the ATO will keep accepting credit cards until 30 June 2027. The ATO confirms it will keep accepting credit card payments for tax until 30 June 2027, and other payment methods will remain available after cards end ATO. After 30 June 2027, credit cards can no longer be used for ATO payments.
In Canberra terms, it was heard as a leadership story first and a payments story second. Albanese was accused of ‘humiliating’ Chalmers over the U-turn, and Albanese claimed credit for the extension. Asked on 14 October 2026 whether he had been outmanoeuvred, Chalmers said he was “not at all” outmanoeuvred on the decision to delay the ban ABC.
The broader context here is why this cut through. Treasurers do not like being seen to take payments policy direction from the prime minister’s text inbox. Prime ministers do not like being seen to sit on a small business complaint for weeks. Both men now describe the same outcome as orderly consultation.
Looking ahead to the next eight months, the test is administrative rather than theatrical. The government has bought a transition. It has not solved the funding problem identified by Heferen, and it has not said what replaces cards for the firms that rely on them. That argument will return before 30 June.
