The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System, almost always written EFTPS, is the US Treasury’s own system for paying federal taxes electronically. EFTPS is a free system offered by the US Department of Treasury to pay your federal taxes (IRS, EFTPS: The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System).
Free is a substantive fact rather than marketing. Card payment routes carry processor fees; this one does not, which is why it remains the default for recurring business deposits even after decades in service.
New Individual Enrolment Has Closed
This is the change a firm needs to know before it tells a client to sign up, and it is stated on the agency’s page under its own heading, “No new enrolments for individual taxpayers”.
Individual taxpayers can no longer create new EFTPS accounts, most individual taxes should be paid through an Online Account, Direct Pay now accepts payments on additional forms for less common payment types, and current EFTPS users can still use EFTPS for now (IRS, EFTPS: The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System).
Read the last clause rather than the headline. Existing individual users are not cut off, they are grandfathered on language that is explicitly provisional. The IRS states that page was last reviewed or updated on 28 June 2026 (IRS, EFTPS: The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System), so the position should be re-read before it is relied on in a client instruction.
Nothing on that page restricts business enrolment, and the IRS’s own navigation lists EFTPS under “Business tax payment (EFTPS)” (IRS, EFTPS: The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System).
What It Pays, and When
The system covers most of what a business owes rather than one tax. It is used to pay income, employment, estimated and excise federal tax payments (IRS, EFTPS: The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System).
Scheduling is the feature that matters for a compliance calendar. Payments can be scheduled up to 365 days in advance, made from home or office 24/7, and changed or cancelled easily, with email notifications tracking the payment and 15 months of payment history available to view (IRS, EFTPS: The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System).
That combination is why the system suits deposit obligations that recur on a schedule. The deposits themselves, and the rules that set their frequency, sit with the returns they belong to, and the payroll side is worked through in payroll tax.
Enrolment Takes Days, Not Minutes
The single most common planning error with this system is leaving enrolment until a deposit is due.
New enrolments for EFTPS can take up to five business days to process (IRS, EFTPS: The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System). A new entity that registers on the day a deposit falls due has no route through this system for that deposit, and needs a different payment method for it.
Enrolment is completed at the EFTPS site or by requesting one from EFTPS Customer Service (IRS, EFTPS: The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System).
The Credential Set Is Three Items, and All Three Are Needed
Access uses a Taxpayer Identification Number, either an EIN or an SSN, a Personal Identification Number, and an Internet Password, used together with a secure Internet browser (IRS, EFTPS: The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System).
Three separate credentials, arriving at different times and by different routes, is why EFTPS access is one of the things that quietly breaks when a client changes bookkeeper or a firm changes staff. Which number identifies the entity is set out in employer identification number.
The Route Built for Firms
A practice paying on behalf of many clients does not need a separate login per client. If you are a tax professional, you can make payments for multiple clients under a single login using the free Batch Provider Software (IRS, EFTPS: The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System).
The agency documents it in Publication 5301, the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System Batch Provider Software User Manual, alongside Publication 966, a guide to getting started, and Publication 4990, the EFTPS Payment Instruction Booklet for Business and Individual Taxpayers (IRS, EFTPS: The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System).
There is also a telephone route through an EFTPS voice response system, and a confirmation practice worth adopting: immediate acknowledgement of the payment, together with the bank statement, confirms payments were made (IRS, EFTPS: The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System). Two independent records of the same deposit is what makes a late-deposit penalty notice answerable.
Common Questions
Yes. It is a free system offered by the US Department of Treasury to pay federal taxes (IRS, EFTPS: The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System), and the batch software for tax professionals is free as well (IRS, EFTPS: The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System).
No. Individual taxpayers can no longer create new EFTPS accounts, and the IRS directs most individual taxes to an Online Account, with Direct Pay accepting additional forms for less common payment types. Current EFTPS users can still use EFTPS for now (IRS, EFTPS: The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System).
Up to 365 days in advance, and a scheduled payment can be changed or cancelled (IRS, EFTPS: The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System).
Accountably places trained offshore accountants and tax preparers inside US CPA and EA firms, and a firm can put a block of its own payroll and deposit work through a trial task before anything client facing depends on it.
