How a business rewards credit card could benefit your business

A business rewards credit card acts in much the same way as a personal rewards credit card but rewards eligible business purchases and tax payments rather than personal purchases – plus they have other advantages too.

Earn rewards for your business spend

A variety of credit card options are available to business owners, and your size, structure and turnover should be considered before making a decision. Tips for choosing a business credit card are offered at the end of this article.

 

Some businesses opt for a business rewards credit card to get something back in return for business purchases and eligible payments such as government tax. The rewards programs offered with Westpac business credit cards for example, are Westpac’s own Altitude Rewards program and the popular Qantas Business Rewards. 

 

While you can get rewards through personal credit cards too, business rewards cards can feature rewards tailored more to a company’s needs. For example, business flights, hotels and business concierge services to help you make your travel arrangements.

Make tax time simpler

Another key benefit of having a dedicated business rewards credit card is to help separate your business finances from your personal expenditure. This simplifies recordkeeping and reporting, especially around tax time – and with Westpac cards your monthly statements can be downloaded and imported into accounting software.

 

Without the clutter of personal transactions, a credit card used solely for business purchases can give you a clearer view of your cash flow. Another benefit is that the annual card fee on each of your business cards may be tax deductible. However, you should make your own enquiries about this with your tax adviser.

Receive complimentary business insurance 

While some personal credit cards offer complimentary insurance across a range of travel and purchase protections, business rewards credit cards can provide insurance more specific to business circumstances. For example, the insurance provided with most personal credit cards doesn’t cover items bought for business purposes or business travel.

 

In contrast, the complimentary insurance provided with the Westpac BusinessChoice Rewards Platinum Mastercard®, Altitude Business Gold Mastercard and Altitude Business Platinum Mastercard offer various covers for business specific circumstances including:

 

• International Travel Insurance for business and personal travel
• Purchase Protection Insurance for business items as well as personal goods
• Extended Warranty Insurance for business items as well as personal goods
• Accountholder’s Unauthorised Transaction Insurance

Give employees access to credit cards

Depending on the size of your business, you may need your employees to use your company’s credit card account for day-to-day business purchases and bill payments. 

 

Most personal credit cards only offer one additional cardholder that has access to the full credit limit of the account, whereas our BusinessChoice card accounts allow up to 9 additional cardholders with the ability to assign individual credit limits to each card. This gives you complete control over how much each of your employees can spend on the account.

How do I choose the right business rewards credit card?

When making a comparison between business credit card providers, the questions you may wish to ask yourself include:

 

• How many credit cards do I need for my business?
• What credit limit do I need?
• What are the interest rates?
• What are the interest-free periods?
• Is insurance included?

 

Westpac has a business credit card comparison tool that allows you to compare the credit cards you can apply for in Westpac online banking.

Not sure about a business reward credit card after all?

If lower annual fees are more of a business priority than rewards right now, you might like to consider the Westpac BusinessChoice Everyday Mastercard. It provides the same 55-day interest-free period as our rewards cards, plus complimentary insurance and the option to have up to ten cards for your business.