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By Tepricka Morgan, Over the Counter Revenue Collection Division

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently partnered with the Financial Management Service’s (FMS) Over the Counter Revenue Collection Division (OTCD) to electronically convert centralized insolvency payments (which are a result of bankruptcy cases that involve delinquent taxes) and misdirected tax payments received at the Philadelphia Service Center.

The use of Paper Check Conversion Over the Counter (PCC OTC) by IRS will enhance the efficiency of traditional check-handling approaches by expediting the deposit process on the front-end. Audit trails and electronic records will also contribute to the effectiveness of back-end reporting. IRS is excited about the benefits of going paper-less and plans to expand application usage during phased roll-outs of PCC OTC at the Brookhaven and Memphis Service Centers after initial implementation at the Philadelphia Service Center in March 2008.

With a major focus on stream-lining the government’s collections process, the OTCD at FMS continues to provide innovative, value-added solutions that support Federal agencies. One such mechanism used to achieve this goal is the PCC OTC program, which fully automates the check collections process, reducing their reliance on manual methods while modernizing efforts. OTC works closely with agencies to demonstrate the distinctive benefits of PCC OTC usage at the business level. Depending on configuration, the system can:

• Convert checks into electronic debits or substitute checks for faster collection.
• Capture complete front and back electronic images of checks.
• Verify checks against a historical database of negative items written to a particular agency.
• Represent failed items on specific days of the month.
• Prepare deposit tickets (SF 215) and debit vouchers (SF 5515).

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