EFTPS Payment: The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System – IRS

EFTPS Payment: The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System – IRS

The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System® tax payment service is provided free by the U.S. Department of the Treasury. After you’ve enrolled and received your credentials, you can pay any tax due to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) using this system.

• Receive your confirmation by email.

• Verify the bank account that will be used when making a payment

• Change the bank account used for a payment

• Self-select your PIN when creating an additional enrollment

• Terminate an enrollment you are no longer using

What You Need to Know

• The IRS continues to remind taxpayers to watch out for email schemes. Taxpayers will only receive an email from EFTPS if they have opted in for email notifications when they sign up for email through EFTPS. Report all unsolicited email claiming to be from the IRS or an IRS-related function to phishing@irs.gov.

• You must be enrolled to use the EFTPS® tax payment service. To enroll, click on Enrollment at the top of this page and follow the steps. If this is your first time enrolling in EFTPS®, your information will need to be validated with the IRS. After this process is complete you will receive a personal identification number (PIN) via U.S. Mail in five to seven business days at your IRS address of record.

• Payments using this Web site or our voice response system must be scheduled by 8 p.m. ET the day before the due date to be received timely by the IRS. The funds will move out of your banking account on the date you select for settlement.

• This EFTPS® tax payment service Web site supports Microsoft Internet Explorer for Windows, Google Chrome for Windows and Mozilla Firefox for Windows.

• You may use this Web site and our voice response system (1.800.555.3453) interchangeably to make payments.

• If you are required to make deposits electronically but do not wish to use the EFTPS® tax payment service yourself, ask your financial institution about ACH Credit or same-day wire payments, or consult a tax professional or payroll provider about making payments for you. Please note: These options may result in fees from the providers. Payments through third parties may have earlier cutoff times; please check with them for their deadlines.

How does the EFTPS® tax payment service work?

With the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS®), a free service of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, you schedule payments whenever you want, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can enter payment instructions for businesses and individuals up to 365 days in advance.

The system launched in 1996 and has processed more than 1 billion payments through this Web site and our phone system as well as through special channels for payroll providers, tax professionals, financial institutions, and other authorized third parties.

Payment types:

• ACH Debit (Authorize a transaction yourself).
• ACH Credit (Have your Financial Institution initiate your transaction).

ACH debits and credits for EFTPS work as follows: For ACH debits, the taxpayer initiates the tax payment by asking EFTPS to originate a debit entry to the taxpayer’s bank account and crediting the Treasury. The taxpayer supplies the tax payment information to EFTPS at least one day prior to the due date. EFTPS validates reported data in accordance with IRS instructions and provides the taxpayer with an acknowledgment number. EFTPS provides the tax payment details electronically to IRS.

On the day before the tax payment date, EFTPS originates an ACH debit file for the tax payments to settle the next day. The EFTPS ACH debit file is automatically transmitted by Bank of America to the FedACH system. FRB Atlanta is responsible for settling the funds in addition to recording and reporting ACH collections and deposits processed by EFTPS.

For ACH credits, the taxpayer requests its bank to originate an ACH credit (crediting the Treasury and debiting the taxpayer’s bank account) at least one day in advance of the tax due date. The taxpayer’s bank delivers the ACH credit file entries to the FRB ACH Operator by 2:15 a.m. ET on the tax due date to initiate the ACH credit. The FedACH file, with the taxpayer detail, is transmitted electronically to EFTPS. EFTPS verifies the taxpayer transaction detail, assigns a reference number to the transaction in its own records and reports this number to IRS. FRB Atlanta is responsible for settling the funds in addition to recording and reporting ACH collections and deposits processed by EFTPS.

With the adoption of new payments system industry rules, same-day ACH capability (settlement on the day the transaction is received or originated) became an additional option to existing next-day settlement for ACH credits received and ACH debits originated through EFTPS.