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Technology Stocks : VeriSign (VRSN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Patriarch who wrote (234)	8/23/1998 10:02:00 PM
From: Patriarch	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1285

Morgan Stanley Unit to Process Credit Card Tax Bills (Update1) Morgan Stanley Unit to Process Credit Card Tax Bills (Update1) (Adds background in Visa in paragraphs 6, 7 and 8) Washington, Aug. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co.'s Novus Services Inc. and U S Audiotex have teamed up with the Internal Revenue Service to allow U.S. citizens to pay their federal taxes with credit cards for the first time next year. In 1997 Congress told the Internal Revenue Service to begin accepting credit card payments as part of the Taxpayer Relief Act. As part of that law, however, legislators told tax collectors they couldn't pay the companies for processing the payments. As a result Novus Services and U S Audiotex will charge taxpayers a yet-to-be determined ''convenience'' fee for putting their taxes on their credits cards, beginning with the 1999 tax filing season, which covers 1998 returns. ''In offering this service, the Internal Revenue Service has recognized the importance of convenience in paying taxes and providing more choices to consumers,'' said William Simmons, the general manager of Novus Network Services, which claims 48 million card-holders, the bulk through the Discover Card brand. Taxpayers paying their taxes over a telephone or a computer line can use the U S Audiotex system, which will accept MasterCard, American Express and Discover credit cards. After filing their taxes, taxpayers will dial a toll-free number to charge their tax payments. Visa International Inc., the world's largest payment system, hasn't yet decided to participate in the program, said Steven R. Johnson, a senior vice president at U S Audiotex. ''We expect that Visa will be part of the deal, we expect a decision in the end of the month,'' he said. Officials at Visa were not immediately available for comment. Individuals that choose a computer and use tax software made by Intuit Inc., TurboTax or MacInTax can tap into the Novus system to pay their tax bills. Electronic Charge The credit card initiative is part of a broader effort by the IRS to boost the number of people that file their taxes electronically. The IRS is pushing taxpayers to use electronic devices to file their taxes because it's less expensive to process electronic returns and there is less chance for error. As part of the movement, the IRS awarded a contract worth $86,595 to VeriSign Inc., a California-based software company that reported $9.4 million in revenue 1997, to test the use of electronic signatures and other security devices. The e- signatures will be designed to allow tax business to be conducted through e-mail. Intuit Inc., based in Mountain View, California, and H&R Block, of Kansas City, signed up with the National Association of Enrolled Agents on another pilot project to help develop personal identification numbers to be used when a taxpayer relies on a tax professional to file his or her taxes electronically. c Copyright 1998, Bloomberg L.P. All Rights Reserved.