ACI Worldwide, the Internal Revenue Service to offer new tax payment options for taxpayers

According to the press release, once taxpayers are validated by the IRS, they can obtain a barcode – made possible through ACI and InComm Payments’ VanillaDirect Pay. Taxpayers can then take the barcode payment token to over 60,000 participating retail agents (including Dollar General and Family Dollar stores) with the appropriate amount of cash to cover their tax debt and any associated service fees. Together with the IRS, ACI is the first organization to provide this type of cash payment option for taxpayers in the US.

While the pandemic has caused financial difficulty for many consumers, the lack of cash payment options due to the closure of some physical locations and merchants’ push for digital payments puts the unbanked and underbanked populations at a further disadvantage. With ACI Payments the IRS not only increases the payment options available to all taxpayers but makes it easier for these consumers to pay their taxes in a way that works best for them.

Accordingly, a recent ACI Speedpay Pulse study showed that more than a third of consumers will take at least six months to catch up on missed bill payments due to COVID-19, and 1 in 10 consumers reported having past-due monthly bills as a direct result of their financial situation during the pandemic.