Labor knew in July about ATO plan to ban credit card payments, Mulino says

Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino has conceded he and Treasurer Jim Chalmers knew in July that the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) was considering banning credit card payments for tax bills. The Guardian

The admission goes further than the account Mr Chalmers gave to parliament last week. He had said he was made aware of the decision in late September, about a week before it was made public.

Mr Mulino made the July concession on ABC TV's Insiders program on 18 October 2026. He said the ATO's preference had been to ban credit card payments.

The context was a Reserve Bank announcement in March that merchant fees on credit card transactions would be banned from 1 October. The ATO had originally settled on a two-month transition period.

The ATO announced it would ban the use of credit cards for payment from November. It had originally said it would stop accepting credit cards after 30 November 2026. ATO

The delay to that plan followed widespread backlash from small businesses. The government will fund the ATO to delay the ban until July 2027.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he and Mr Chalmers were in complete lockstep on delaying the ban. The ATO will continue accepting credit card payments for tax obligations until 30 June 2027. ATO

After 30 June 2027, credit cards will no longer be able to be used to make payments to the ATO. The ATO will continue to accept credit card payments via third parties after that date, and will continue to offer other free and low-fee payment methods. Treasury

On a separate tax measure, Mr Mulino says Labor is not watering down proposed changes to put a minimum 30% tax on discretionary trusts. The Guardian