Choosing a Payment Option

Tisha Morris

Emily is in the process of filing a 2290 for her dad. She doesn’t know why he chose to have her do this, as she has never done one before and is not familiar with how it works. But, it’s her dad, so she agrees to help. 

She signs up and proceeds to fill out the 2290 form. Everything so far seems pretty easy to her and she wonders why she was so stressed out about it in the first place. She will have this done in no time, she thinks to herself. It is now time to decide how she wants to pay the IRS fee for the heavy vehicle usage tax (HVUT) and she sees some options before her. 

The first two seem like the same option, which one should she choose? 

She decides to look them both over to get a better understanding of what they are. The first one is titled ACH-Direct Bank Account Draft. She notices it asks for the following information:

• Routing Number
• Account Number
• Account Type: Checking or Savings
• Account Holder Phone Number
• Withdrawal Date

The 2nd one is titled EFTPS-Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (eftps.gov). She clicks on it and sees there is an explanation of what this option is. She reads it.

• You can pay the 2290 tax due electronically to the IRS by visiting eftps.gov. It will take a few minutes if you already have an account with EFTPS. If you don’t have one, it may take 7-10 business days to set up your account. Payments made through EFTPS, should be scheduled between 4-5 business days so that the payment can be received on time.

She also sees there is a checkbox that needs to be selected. It reads:

• I, Accept that it is my responsibility to send the tax due payment to the IRS using eftps.gov website, FTDs or by other means.

After reviewing these two options she realizes they are two completely different payment methods. 

She sees that if she wants to pay the IRS by having them withdraw the money from her bank account, she needs to choose the ACH-Direct Bank Account Draft option, otherwise she will be agreeing to go to the IRS payment website, eftps.gov, and will be required to make the payment for the HVU Tax on that website. She proceeds to enter her banking information to pay via ACH-Direct Bank Account Draft and clicks ‘Next’ to lock in that payment method, and finishes submitting the 2290 for her dad.

We hope this above narration has helped with understanding the differences in the IRS payment options ACH-Direct Bank Account Draft and EFTPS-Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (eftps.gov). We always encourage our customers to call or chat live with us if they have any questions about what the IRS payment options mean or which one they should choose based on how they wish to pay the IRS.

If you wish to pay from your checking account by means of direct debit (electronic funds withdrawal), please make sure to fill out the ACH-Direct Bank Account Draft option. You will enter the required information in that section, then directly click ‘Next’ to lock in that payment method. (Note: If you click on any other option on the page, it will erase the banking information and not lock in the ACH option as the method of payment).

If you have an account already set up with the IRS on EFTPS.gov and wish to pay with this method, you will click on ‘EFTPS-Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (eftps.gov)’ and make sure to select the checkbox next to ‘I, Accept that it is my responsibility to send the tax due payment to the IRS using eftps.gov website, FTDs or by other means.’ Once you submit the 2290 in our site, you will go to eftps.gov and make your 2290 HVU Tax payment there.

If you have any further questions about these 2 payment methods, feel free to call us at 877-811-3829 or you can chat live with us and we will be glad to help you. Our hours of support are M-F, 8am-6pm Central.