Since 1999, Official Payments has processed a variety of business and individual electronic tax payments for the California Board of Equalization, Department of Transportation, Franchise Tax Board and the EDD. With this expansion, currently expected to begin early in calendar year 2006, California businesses will have the fast, convenient and secure new way of making payroll tax deposit (DE88) payments to the EDD with a VISA, American Express,, Discover or MasterCard by visiting the company's Web site, or by calling 1-800-2PAY-TAX.
The EDD works with over one million California employers to collect payroll taxes and employment records for more than 17 million California workers. The EDD also offers a wide variety of services to millions of Californians under the State's Job Service, Unemployment Insurance, Disability Insurance, Workforce Investment, and Labor Market Information programs.
"We're very pleased to expand our relationship with the EDD to provide our secure and reliable electronic payment processing services for the benefit of California employers," said James R. Weaver, Tier's Chief Executive Officer. "Official Payments has been given the opportunity to support approximately $27 billion in employer tax payments as reported in EDD's last fiscal year. This is clearly a strategically significant expansion. The potential market size makes EDD OPC's second largest market opportunity in relation to our federal tax payment processing work."
Weaver continued, "This expansion is indicative of a growing trend of state agencies to make electronic payment options available to businesses. Official Payments currently processes electronic business tax and fee payments made with debit and credit cards for 19 states and the District of Columbia. Our expectation is that this positive trend will persist as U.S. businesses and consumer payment preferences continue the shift to paperless options."
Official Payments provides electronic payment services for the Internal Revenue Service, 25 states, the District of Columbia and more than 1,800 local government clients nationwide.
Official Payments charges citizens a convenience fee for the service. Citizens using credit or debit cards with bonus rewards programs may, depending on their card's program, earn reward points, airline frequent flyer miles or cash back for paying their taxes and fees.
