Tired of standing in line ot register all of your cars at the NY DMV, try this!:
"(NY-OFFICIAL-PAYMENTS)(OPAY) Official Payments to Service New York State
Credit Card Income Tax Payments Accepted via Internet and Telephone; OPAY
Services its 13th State
Business Editors
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 10, 2000--Official Payments Corporation
(NASDAQ: OPAY) announced today the company has been authorized by New York
State to provide a service which will enable its citizens to make balance-due
tax payments, estimated tax payments, and extension payments, by credit card,
via the Internet or telephone. Taxpayers in New York State will be able to make
these payments by visiting www.officialpayments.com on the Internet or by
calling toll-free 1-800-2PAY-TAX(SM). The new payment channels for tax year
2000 are expected to go live early next year. New York State will publish
information about the service in tax instruction booklets which will be mailed
to taxpayers in January. Official Payments provides a variety of tax payment
services to the Internal Revenue Service, the District of Columbia, and the
states of Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Illinois, New Jersey,
Maryland, Minnesota, Ohio, Oklahoma and Washington.
"We are delighted to announce this new business in New York," said Thomas R.
Evans, Chairman and CEO of Official Payments, Corp. "New York represents a $6.4
billion personal income tax market opportunity for Official Payments. During
the 1999 tax season we collected federal income tax payments from thousands of
New York taxpayers and now those same people will be able to use our systems to
make their state tax payments," Mr. Evans, added.
Official Payments will charge New York taxpayers a convenience fee for
processing these credit card transactions. The fee schedule can be found at
www.officialpayments.com. For example, a taxpayer who owed New York $900.00 and
charged their taxes would find a total of $922.50 on their credit card
statement: $900.00 for the tax bill and $22.50 for the convenience fee.
American Express, Discover Card, and MasterCard are the credit cards accepted
by the program. Taxpayers using credit cards with bonus rewards programs can,
depending on their card's program, earn rewards, points, and cash-back or
airline frequent flyer miles for paying their taxes.
About Official Payments Corporation.
Official Payments Corporation is the leading provider of electronic payment
options to government entities. The company enables consumers to pay government
fees and taxes via telephone or the Internet, using their credit cards. The
company has partnered with the Internal Revenue Service; several state
governments, including Alabama, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, District of
Columbia, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, Ohio, Oklahoma and
Washington state; and over 550 municipal and county entities, in which it
collects income taxes, property taxes, real estate taxes, parking fines, sales
and use taxes and other government fees by credit card over the telephone and
the Internet. In the 1999 tax year, Official Payments collected and processed
over $575 million in federal income tax payments on behalf of the Internal
Revenue Service. The company is publicly traded on Nasdaq under the symbol
OPAY. Official Payments Corp. is committed to making payments to the government
go fast, smart and safe.
Statements in this release may be deemed to contain forward-looking
statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, and section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.
Such statements are based upon the current economic environment and current
expectations that involve risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited
to statements regarding the Company's competitive position, expected operating
and financial performance, business model and expected growth of electronic
payments to government entities. All forward-looking statements included in
this report are based upon information available to the Company as of the date
hereof. You are cautioned that these statements are not guarantees of future
performance. The company's actual results and the timing of certain events may
differ significantly than those anticipated in, or caused by, any
forward-looking statements as a result of certain risks and uncertainties,
including without limitation, the general economic and business conditions,
major systems failure, constraints in capacity, rapid technological changes,
ability to remain existing government contracts and enter into new government
contracts, competitive nature of the market in which the Company competes, the
early stages of development of the Company's products. A more complete
description of these and other risks and uncertainties associated with the
Company's business can be found in the Company's filings with the United States
Securities and Exchange Commission, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the year ended December 31, 1999. The Company does not undertake any
obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statement, whether as a
result of new information, future events or otherwise.
--30--LR/na* |
