Electronic Federal Tax Payment System
Experiences Record Year

WASHINGTON - At the end of calendar year 2000, the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) had surpassed the volumes received in calendar year 1999 in terms of new enrollments, dollars and transactions. During 2000, EFTPS processed more than 63 million federal tax payments, which represents a 14% increase over the previous year. The system received more than $1.5 trillion, which translates into a 15% increase.

Enrollments in EFTPS also increased in 2000 and there are now more than 3 million taxpayers enrolled in the system. As a tax payment system offered by the Department of the Treasury, EFTPS enables businesses to make all their federal tax payments 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, by phone or personal computer (PC), or through a program offered by their financial institution.

Participation in EFTPS continues to grow in 2001 as evidenced by record high payment transaction and dollar activity in January. The system processed more than 7.5 million transactions representing more than $166 billion. In addition, January 31, 2001 was a record volume day with 1,473,144 transactions flowing through EFTPS.

According to Terence H. Lutes, Director, Electronic Tax Administration, “EFTPS is a solid system that has delivered a high level of service and accuracy over the years. It consistently exceeds industry standards, and delivers a 99.9% accuracy rate in terms of payments appropriately applied.”

“We developed the system with a focus on being able to handle significant volume with accuracy, integrating checks and balances to make sure information is correct and verified at each step of the process. EFTPS delivers a level of precision that can be compared to the stringent banking and financial transaction standards for correctness," says Lutes.

Since it began in 1996, EFTPS has processed more than 197 million federal tax payments totaling more than $5 trillion.

EFTPS is for small, medium and large businesses. To obtain free EFTPS enrollment forms, taxpayers, tax professionals and financial institutions can call 1-800-555-4477 or 1-800-945-8400.

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