Resist the Urge to Charge Your Taxes

For example, the Citi Cash Returns credit card offers 5% cash back on all purchases made the first three months you own the credit card. Since the 5% cash back is more than the 2.49% fee, you actually can earn a bit of money by paying your taxes in this instance.

In the end, it's important to realize that the credit card companies and the IRS have selfish reasons for promoting payment by credit card.

The IRS knows that it is "more likely to get paid if they offer more payment options," Arnold says. "It's also a very lucrative business for the companies that accept credit card payments for the IRS [as well as the card issuers]."