What is the IRS Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS)?

The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System - A secure way to pay all your federal taxes. Such is the tag line on the EFTPS page at irs.gov.

What is the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS), and what can it be used for?

EFTPS is a tax payment system that is provided free of charge by the Department of the Treasury and the IRS. Electronic tax payments can be made through EFTPS 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

According to the IRS, more than 9.5 million taxpayers are currently enrolled in EFTPS. Since EFTPS started in 1996, there have been over 1 billion electronic payments made, totaling over $23.6 trillion. I would say that's a good reason to enroll if you haven't already.

Tax payments and transactions on EFTPS can be made up until 8 p.m. at least one date ahead of the date the payment is due. Immediate acknowledgement of the payment will be made. As a convenience, EFTPS also allows scheduling of payments in advance. Businesses can schedule payments up to four months in advance, while individuals can schedule a payment up to a full year in advance.

Payment history will be retained on EFTPS for up to 16 months. Users also have up until two business days prior to the payment to cancel the scheduled transaction.

The following payments can be made using the EFTPS system:

• Federal Tax Deposits (FTD) of employee withholdings (As of January 1 2011, FTDs can no longer be made by the paper coupons; they must be submitted electronically.)
• Estimated Tax deposits for those who are self-employed
• Current and past-due individual and business tax payments
• Payments made with an extension of time to file
• Installment Agreement payments
• Excise tax payments

If multiple payments need to be made, EFTPS accommodate that. Payroll services responsible to pay taxes for 1,000 clients or less can download and use the free EFTPS Batch Provider Software. Submissions of up to 1,000 enrollments or 5,000 payments may be sent in one transmission.

The Batch Software also gives clients a Taxpayer Inquiry PIN which they can use to look up and inspect the records of all payments made for them.

If I have a need as a large payroll service to make more than 1,000 payments per day, I can enroll as an EFTPS Bulk Provider in order to submit a high volume of payments.

In order to get started on EFTPS, go to the eftps.gov home page and click the enrollment button at the bottom of the page. After the IRS validates your information, you will receive a Personal Identification Number in approximately five to seven business days via regular mail. You can then log back into EFTPS and set up your account.

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