What is the EFTPS?

The EFTPS is a U.S. Department of the Treasury payment system designed to make peoples’ lives simpler. All US taxpayers can use the EFTPS to pay taxes online or by phone, and business owners find the system particularly useful. You can use the EFTPS to submit your employees’ payroll tax withholdings, your own estimated federal income taxes and many other types of federal tax payments online at any time day or night.

You can also:

• Schedule estimated tax payments up to a year in advance
• Change or cancel upcoming tax payments
• Track your payment history
• View up to 15 months of payment history online

The EFTPS sends a confirmation email every time you make a payment online, so you know when your payment has gone through successfully. If you get stuck or if you have a question, you can ask a customer service agent for help.

What is the difference between IRS Direct Pay and the EFTPS?

What is the EFTPS versus IRS Direct Pay? IRS Direct Pay and the EFTPS are both free online payment systems. You can use them both to pay your own personal federal taxes. There are a few important differences between the two systems, however. For example:

• You can use IRS Direct Pay without pre-registering for the system.
• You can use EFTPS to pay withheld payroll taxes and other business-centric taxes.
• You can’t use IRS Direct Pay to pay business taxes.

If you need to pay business taxes, you have to register for the EFTPS, pay taxes by wire transfer or pay taxes by check via mail.

Is EFTPS enrollment mandatory for corporations?

Sole traders and LLC owners have multiple options for tax payment and don’t have to register for the EFTPS. Corporations, however, are required by law to transmit quarterly estimated income tax payments electronically—so they do have to register for the EFTPS.

Corporations can pay other business taxes, including their final income tax liability, in any number of ways. They don’t have to use the EFTPS. Many corporations decide to use the EFTPS to pay other business taxes, though, because it’s easier than paying manually.

How to enroll in the EFTPS

It’s easy to register for the EFTPS. You can visit the EFTPS website and enroll online, or you can ask a customer service agent for an enrollment form if you prefer a paper option. You’ll need to provide:

• Your EIN or Social Security number
• Your business name
• Your business telephone number
• Your EFTPS contact person’s full name, address and telephone number
• Your bank account information

If you’re self employed and file taxes jointly, you’ll also need to provide information about your joint filer. Applications usually take about five days to process, so make sure you sign up well in advance of your tax due date.

Hot tip: If you registered for your employer identification number (EIN) via Express Enrollment for New Businesses and activated your EFTPS account at the time, you won’t need to register a second time.

After you fill in the application, you’ll get an EFTPS PIN in the mail. When your PIN arrives, call 1-800-555-3453 and activate your account. You’ll need to:

• Provide your bank account information
• Provide your telephone number
• Write down your confirmation number
• Set up an EFTPS system password

It’ll take the EFTPS system a few days to verify your banking information, after which you can begin paying taxes online.

Important:

• If you have a business bank account, your bank might offer to initiate EFTPS payments for you.

• If you have a personal account, you’ll need to initiate EFTPS payments by yourself.

You’ll receive a welcome packet in the mail about a week after you activate your EFTPS account.

Can I make an EFTPS payment without a PIN?

Unfortunately, you can’t make online payments via the EFTPS system without your EFTPS PIN. This is a security measure designed to protect your business from fraud. Thankfully, you can still make tax payments by phone before you retrieve your PIN.

PIN retrieval is somewhat complicated. You can reset your password on the EFTPS website, but you can’t reset your assigned PIN. To reset your PIN, you’ll need to call 1-800-555-4477 and speak to an agent. You’ll also need to know some important information, including:

• Your total payroll tax deposit amount for the quarter
• Your Social Security withholding amount for the quarter
• Your Medicare withholding amount for the quarter
• Your EIN
• Your bank information

The Department of the Treasury agent will ask you questions to verify your identity. They’ll also let you deposit quarterly taxes by phone if you need to do so. After that, you can request another copy of your PIN, which will be mailed to you.

Common business taxes you can pay via the EFTPS

You can use the EFTPS to make a number of types of business tax payments. Here’s a complete list:

• Quarterly federal taxes (form 941)
• Quarterly federal excise taxes (form 720)
• Annual FUTA taxes (form 940)
• Annual tax return for agricultural employees (form 943)
• Annual withheld federal income tax return (form 945)
• U.S. corporation income tax return (form 1120)
• FCA income tax return (form 990-C)
• Private foundation return (form 990-PF)
• Charitable trust return (form 990-T)
• Fiduciary income tax return (form 1041)
• Annual withholding tax return for U.S. sources of income of foreign persons (form 1042)
• Employer’s annual railroad retirement tax return (form CT-1)

EFTPS: In conclusion

What is the EFTPS? Well, it’s not the East Flanders Prospective Twin Survey (EFPTS). The EFPTS is a register of multiple births in Belgium—so don’t try to log in and pay your federal taxes at that website. Instead, enroll at the US government’s EFTPS website, wait for your PIN to arrive and pay your federal taxes online in minutes.