Treasury Announces Contactless Payment Acceptance

August 15, 2017

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service (Fiscal Service) today announced acceptance of increasingly-popular contactless payment methods such as Apple Pay, Android Pay, and Samsung Pay at select government sites. Contactless payments are part of Fiscal Service’s eCommerce initiative that seeks to increase the volume of electronic collections by offering innovative payment technologies which are currently available in the private sector.

“Contactless payments provide the public another convenient, simple, and secure payment method in our suite of electronic payment options,” said Christina Cox, Deputy Assistant Commissioner for Revenue Collections Management for Fiscal Service.

Customers can “check out” with these payment methods at participating locations, including: National Park Service sites and Defense U.S. military commissaries.

These payment methods leverage near-field communication (NFC), a wireless standard allowing a customer to pay with a mobile device by hovering the device near a terminal.

Later in 2017, the Fiscal Service will also offer this functionality on-the-go via a mobile app for federal agencies. The Fiscal Service, which also accepts several Digital Wallets (including PayPal and Amazon Pay) and offers several other mobile products, seeks to provide a full suite of electronic payment options to the public.

In Fiscal Year 2016, the Fiscal Service collected $3.9 trillion in revenue processing 529,643,865 transactions through several collection programs. Approximately 98.2 percent ($3.8 trillion) of these were through electronic transactions. For more information on federal revenue collections, visit www.fiscal.treasury.gov.