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Treasury Announces New Ways to Simplify Tax Payments

May 16, 2006, Washington, D.C. - The U.S. Department of the Treasury today announced two initiatives that will simplify the way small businesses, individual taxpayers and tax preparers file and pay their federal taxes. These initiatives are:

• Enhanced Batch Provider Software for Tax Professionals
  The new software allows tax preparers to make large numbers of payments on behalf of clients with the single click of a mouse by using the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS). The new application offers several improvements, including electronic registration and enrollment, real-time payment and enrollment data, real-time file transmission and replication, and enhanced report generation. The software may be downloaded by going to www.eftps.gov and clicking on What's New. EFTPS enables tax preparers, businesses and individuals to pay federal taxes electronically, including corporate, excise and employment taxes, and 1040 quarterly estimated tax payments. Taxes may be paid via the Internet or a telephone voice response system.
  
  
• Paying Electronically-a Natural with Annual Filing
  Under new temporary and proposed IRS rule changes, nearly 950,000 small businesses are now eligible to file and pay taxes once a year using new Form 944 (Employer's Annual Federal Tax Return), rather than quarterly using Form 941 (Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return). Small businesses that make the switch should consider simplifying the process further by using EFTPS to make a single electronic tax payment with their annual return. Eligible businesses are those with an estimated employment tax liability of $1,000 or less. For more information, please see http://www.irs.gov/irs/article/0,,id=152458,00.html.

"These initiatives are further examples of the government's broader commitment to provide taxpayers with simpler, more streamlined ways of paying and filing taxes," added IRS Small Business/Self-Employed Commissioner Kevin M. Brown. "Electronic offerings like IRS e-file and EFTPS save taxpayers time and money while offering increased accuracy and security."

"EFTPS had a tremendous year in 2005. Taxpayers paid $1.87 trillion using EFTPS last year, up 16 percent from 2004, and the number of payments rose 11 percent to 80.4 million," said Donald Hammond, Treasury Fiscal Assistant Secretary. "We anticipate even more growth in 2006 as a result of these new initiatives. Treasury has listened to tax preparers and taxpayers and we are continually working to update the system to better meet their needs and to make the electronic payment of federal taxes easier for them."

Paying federal taxes electronically through EFTPS also improves efficiency for the government and for taxpayers and tax preparers. It costs the government 53 cents less to process an electronic payment than it does to process a payment made using a paper coupon or paper check. Taxpayers and preparers who use EFTPS no longer have to go to the bank and wait in line to make a tax payment.

EFTPS is a free service from Treasury. EFTPS is an accurate, secure and convenient way to pay all federal tax payments - including corporate, excise and employment taxes and 1040 quarterly estimated taxes via the Internet or a telephone voice response system.

About Simplify
Simplify is Treasury's national public information campaign designed to encourage tax preparers and small businesses to pay federal taxes electronically through the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS). EFTPS is a free service from Treasury that allows tax preparers, small businesses and individuals to pay all federal taxes electronically.