Are payment coupons available?

No. Payment coupons are no longer available. Remitters who mail in their payments are encouraged to provide information required for accurate posting of the payment. Please refer to individual withholding orders for more details.

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Can I submit electronically if I am self employed?

Yes.  You are encouraged to submit electronically, using one of our EFT remittance methods. In most cases, ExpertPay will be the most convenient and cost effective method of remitting your child support.

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What does ACH stand for?

ACH stand for Automated Clearing House. ACH is the recognized standard for transferring funds electronically. The Texas SDU accepts two ACH formats, CCD+ or CTX(820). Both of these formats include an addenda record, which contains the employees posting information, which is needed for accurate processing of the funds.

For more information on the addenda record (often referred to as the 7 record),  please click here.

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Are there any security risks associated with EFT?

EFT (ACH) is a nationally accepted standard for transferring funds, and is considered extremely secure. For more information, please visit the NACHA homepage.

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Is EFT faster than mailing in my payments?

In most cases, yes. Remitting via ACH through your bank will typically take 2 business days. There is no mail time, and no potential for lost, stolen, or damaged paper checks.

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Can I verify that my payment has been received by the SDU?

Yes. To verify that your payments have been processed, please call 1-877-474-4463.

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I'm interested in remitting payments electronically, how do I begin?

To begin remitting payments electronically, please contact us via this website, or at 1-877-474-4463 to discuss your options.
To remit via ExpertPay, visit the ExpertPay site. This service is FREE for all Texas remittances.

To remit via ACH through your bank, there are three steps:

1. Case Reconciliation - provide us a list of your employees that you remit child support for. We will verify case information, and provide you with correctly formatted remittance information.

2. Create ACH file - contact your Bank, use your own payroll software, or use aftermarket ACH software.

3. Test your ACH file - send a text file to one of our EFT specialists.

   

What if I need to make an emergency payment?

1.     Your 10-digit Case number 

2.    Your Cause number

3.     Pay to: Office of Attorney Gen

4.     Code City: Attorney

5.     State: TX

Please contact one of our EFT specialist for more details at 1-877-474-4463

Can I submit a payment using my credit card?

Yes, but the TXCSDU only accepts MasterCard and Discover, using  E-childspay.

You can also make a payment with your Visa, MasterCard, or Debit Card through Western Union. Please visit our Western Union information page for more details.

*Fee's will apply with both of these credit card options.

What are the benefits of remitting via EFT?

Remitting payments via EFT is the easiest and most preferred method for sending in child support payments. Employers who remit via EFT enjoy a greatly reduced administrative burden, avoid paying postage, printing and envelope costs, and have increased accuracy and security for their payments. EFT is a nationally accepted standard for transferring funds.

What are the costs of remitting via EFT?

This depends upon the size of your company, and the method used to remit your payments. Some Financial Institutions do charge fees for creating and initiating an ACH (EFT) transaction. Typically, these costs are only a small fraction of the costs associated with mailing in paper checks.  We encourage you to contact your Bank for information on their ACH requirements and associated fees.

ExpertPay is a web based application for submitting payments to any of 49 State SDU's, and is FREE for employers remitting to Texas.

What case identifier does Texas require for posting a payment?

When submitting via ACH, always submit the ten-digit AG case number and cause number, compressed as one number.

I don't have internet access, what can I do?

Please contact one of our EFT Specialists to discuss your options, at 1-877-474-4463.

Can I remit child support electronically using my current Payroll system?

Quite possibly - YES! Many popular payroll and A/P applications have the ability to create ACH files for child support. You may already have the functionality and not know it. Contact your software support or contact us as we have some experience working with many of today's popular payroll applications.

How do I get the TXCSDU banking information, to remit electronically?

If you remit via ExpertPay, all of the required banking information is embedded in the application.  

If you remit via an ACH transmission through your bank, we will provide you with Texas SDU banking information, after performing a case verification on your employee case information.

What is a FIPS code?

The Federal Information Process Standard (FIPS) code refers to the FIPS code of the SDU that is receiving the transaction. It is 5 characters when indicating State and County codes. It is 7 characters when indicating State, County, and Local codes.  The default FIPS code for Texas is 48000 . The FIPS code field is recommended, but not a required field for ACH transmissions.

What is the Medical Indicator?

The Medical Coverage Indicator is a data field, that is included in your EFT file. This field is a "Y" or "N" character located in the 7 record, indicating whether or not your company offers medical coverage.

Will my bank be able to process EFT transactions?

Most banks prefer EFT transactions over paper. We encourage you to contact your bank's ACH or Cash Management Department to discuss your bank's EFT requirements and capabilities.
The TXCSDU accepts EFT (ACH) transactions in either CCD+ or CTX(820) formats. Both of those formats are commonly used ACH formats, which allow for addenda records. The addenda records are required, because they contain the posting information needed by the TXCSDU.

Please visit our ACH Reference Page for more information.

Will my company need to modify its existing software or hardware to submit via EFT?

Most payroll software already have EFT capabilities integrated into it, or can be added through upgraded versions. We encourage you to check with your payroll software provider. Many banks can process EFT transactions from data provided in an excel spreadsheet or a CSV file.

If you choose to remit via ExpertPay, information can be entered manually or uploaded from an excel or CSV file.

My employees have obligations to other States. Can I pay them all to the Texas SDU?

No. You must follow the individual orders for remittance information. You can however, simplify paying orders to different States by using ExpertPay. With ExpertPay, you can enter or upload employee profiles, and designate any of 49 different remittance States for each obligation. ExpertPay takes care of all of the details, so you don't have to worry about it. Best of all, ExpertPay is FREE for all Texas remittances, as well as for many other State remittances. Visit ExpertPay for more information.

I am in the Military. What are my EFT options?

Can I use my bank's online bill payment service?

We do accept payments made through online banking services. For it to be an electronic payment, it depends upon which bank you are using. Go into the payment page of your online banking application, and click on "add a payee". Most services have a search engine based upon a name and zip+4. Try entering "78265" or "78265-9791" and search for possible matches. We would be listed as "Texas Child Support". If you get a match, your payment should get to us electronically within one business day. Use your 10-digit case number in the account number field.

If you get no payee matches, you can create a new payee and use "Texas Child Support" as the payee name, and the following address: PO Box 659791, San Antonio TX 78265-9791. If your bank's system does not recognize us as a pre-populated payee, the system will print and mail a check, which we will typically receive in 5 business days. Use your 10-digit case number in the account number field. If you have any questions about online banking, please contact us through this website.