Definitions
A
- Advance payment notification (APN)
- The APN service emails the payee:
- One business day before a direct deposit payment will be available in the payee’s account.
– or – - When a warrant has been issued.
- One business day before a direct deposit payment will be available in the payee’s account.
- Agency number
- A three-digit number assigned to identify each state agency or institution of higher education. To find an agency number, see Texas State Agency Number Lookup.
- Agency repeater numbers
- Agency repeater numbers are used for interagency payments. They begin with 3, followed by the agency number repeated three times, and end with a check digit. For example, the repeater number for agency 200 is 32002002007.
- Assignee
- The assignee receives the right to payment in an assignment agreement with a payee (assignor).
- Assignment
- An assignment is the legal transfer of a right or property. For state business, this is the transfer of a payee’s right to payment.
- Assignor
- The assignor (payee) transfers the right to payment in an assignment agreement.
- Automated clearing house (ACH)
- The ACH network provides for electronic funds transfer between financial institutions for direct deposit payments to payee accounts. The National Automated Clearing House Association governs the network and publishes rules and regulations.
Note: Electronic funds transfer is not to be confused with electronic file transfer, which is the batch process used to submit agency system information to the Comptroller’s office.
B
- Bank
- Includes a bank, savings institution and credit union.
- Banking day
- Any day during which a bank is open to the public for carrying on all of its functions.
- Bankruptcy
- Bankruptcy is a legal status of a person or business that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. Bankruptcy only applies in TINS if the debtor or payee is in TINS with a hold record.
- Batch
- Batch means processing multiple similar transactions in large groups, or batches, simultaneously. Some agencies submit transactions from their internal systems to TINS via electronic file transfer to be processed during the nightly batch cycles.
- Business day
- Any day Monday through Friday; excludes Saturday, Sunday, state and federal holidays designated by law for state agencies to be closed for business.
C
- Centralized Accounting and Payroll/Personnel System (CAPPS)
- CAPPS is a Comptroller statewide financial system.
- Check digit
- The check digit is the last digit of the 11-digit payee TIN calculated with an algorithm. See the Check-Digit Calculator.
- Comptroller-assigned number
- The Comptroller’s office can assign a TIN beginning with 3 to a business located outside the United States or to foreign individuals who reside in the U.S. who do not qualify for an SSN, ITIN or EIN.
- Corporate trade exchange (CTX)
- CTX is a corporate ACH format that allows direct deposit payment-related data to be transmitted with the payment to assist with reconciliation.
- Credit entry
- An electronic credit payment that the Comptroller’s office initiates on behalf of a paying state agency to credit a state payee’s account at a financial institution within the U.S.
- Comma separated values (CSV) file
- A CSV file is a plain text file that contains a list of data from a database and designed to easily export data and import it into other programs such as Excel.
- Custodial agency
- The state agency that establishes and maintains the payee’s direct deposit account information. The custodial state agency may or may not be the paying state agency.
D
- Date of payee notification (DOPN)
- The deadline for agency to provide notification to its payees that a reversal was requested on their direct deposit payments, which cannot be later than the reversal settlement date.
- Debtor
- A debtor is any individual, business or other party that owes a debt to the state of Texas. Debtors are set up in TINS so that in the event they become payees, their payments can be held and applied to their debts as authorized by state law.
- Dependent agency
- A state agency whose payment information may be viewed by a governing agency based on statutory authority or agreement.
– or –
A state agency that has authorized another agency to submit TINS batch transactions on its behalf. See TINS Relationship Table. - Direct deposit
- Direct deposit is an ACH service that provides for the electronic transfer of funds directly into the payee’s financial institution account. Wire transfers are not included in the definition of an ACH direct deposit payment.
- Direct deposit deadline date
- The date a payroll must be submitted to transmit payment by direct deposit. If the agency payroll office submits a payroll after the direct deposit deadline date, payments will be made by warrant for the payroll period.
- Direct deposit effective date
- The date after the three-business-day test period, referred to as the prenotification (prenote) period, when direct deposit account information becomes effective.
- Direct deposit instructions
- The payee’s financial institution account information for payments made by direct deposit.
E
- Electronic file transfer (EFT)
- The batch process used by some state agencies to send internal system information to the Comptroller’s office, usually during the nightly cycle.
Note: Electronic file transfer is not to be confused with electronic funds transfer, which is used to describe an ACH payment.
- Electronic funds transfers (EFT)
- A transaction processed through the ACH network to credit funds to a payee’s account. See direct deposit.
Note: Electronic funds transfer is not to be confused with electronic file transfer, which is the batch process used to submit agency system information to the Comptroller’s office.
- Employer identification number (EIN)
- The EIN is a nine-digit number assigned to a company by the Internal Revenue Service (also referred to as a federal employer identification number).
- Expenditure transfer voucher (ETV)
- Used to record expenditure transfers to correct miscoded data elements for previously posted expenditures (document type K).
F
- Federal Reserve
- The Federal Reserve is the central banking system of the United States and includes a network of 12 banks and a number of branches under the oversight of the board of governors.
G
- Governing agency
- A state agency that has statutory authority or agreement with another agency to oversee and view their payment information.
– or –
A state agency with an agreement with another agency, referred to as a dependent agency, to submit TINS batch transactions on their behalf. See TINS Relationship Table.
H
- Hold record
- A debtor’s information in TINS that defines the reason for the state debt, the agency that reported the debt and the liability amount of the debt.
- Hold source agency
- The state agency or institution of higher education that reports a state debt to TINS.
- Hold transaction or maintenance
- An entry in TINS to set up a new hold record, update the hold record, change the liability amount or delete the hold record.
- Human Resource Information System (HRIS)
- HRIS is a Comptroller statewide financial system.
I
- Inactive mail code
- A mail code that cannot be used to issue payments until its status is changed back to active.
- Individual recipient
- A person who receives a non-payroll payment from the state.
- Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN)
- The ITIN is a nine-digit number issued by the IRS for certain resident and nonresident aliens, their spouses and their dependents. The ITIN is only available to individuals who are required to have a taxpayer identification number for federal tax reporting but who do not have and are not eligible to obtain an SSN.
- Input source
- The state agency that represents the agency that adds or updates a TINS transaction via online or batch. May not be the same agency that submits a batch file on behalf of a dependent agency.
- International ACH transaction (IAT)
- IATs are automated clearing house (ACH) payments destined for a financial institution outside of the territory of the United States. These payments must provide specific data elements to comply with U.S. law. The Comptroller’s office cannot issue international direct deposit payments.
J
- Journal voucher (JV)
- A voucher is used by the Comptroller’s office to:
- Indicate direct deposit returned money.
– or – - Record accounting transactions involving the movement of funds in USAS.
- Indicate direct deposit returned money.
M
- Mail code
- A three-digit identifying number unique to each mailing address or direct deposit account under the payee’s TIN. Mail codes are assigned in ascending order, usually beginning with 000, 001, 002, etc.
- Money item
- Return item in the notification of change reason codes when the financial institution returns the money due to a closed account or other problems. See also non-money item.
N
- National Automated Clearinghouse Association (NACHA)
- The national association that establishes the ACH standards, rules and procedures that allow a financial institution to exchange payments on a national basis.
- Non-money item
- Change item in the notification of change reason codes when the prenote has issues or the financial institution deposits the money but requests changes to the direct deposit instructions. See also money item.
- Notification of change (NOC)
- A financial institution’s response to the payee’s prenotification (prenote) to notify the Comptroller’s office that the payee’s direct deposit information needs to be updated or canceled.
O
- Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)
- The section of the U.S. Department of the Treasury that stipulates foreign asset control requirements.
- Offset process
- A process that reduces a payee’s state debt by applying held warrants against the debt.
- Originating depository financial institution (ODFI)
- A financial institution that originates ACH payments on behalf of the Comptroller’s office and transmits these payments through the ACH network in accordance with NACHA rules.
- Overage payment
- Any amount remaining from held warrants after the offset process has eliminated the payee’s state debt.
- Ownership type
- Use to indicate the business structure, such as sole owner, partnership, Texas corporation, etc.
P
- Partnership
- A legal relationship between two or more persons or other entities contractually associated as principals in a business.
- Paycard
- An optional payment method for state employees and state retirees. The state’s paycard is restricted to a state employee’s payroll net pay and a state retiree’s annuity net pay.
- Payday
- The first state working day of each month for monthly payrolls and the 15th (or following business day) for bimonthly payrolls.
- Payee
- For this website, a payee includes an individual, corporation, organization, government agency or subdivision, business trust, estate or heirs of an estate, surviving spouse, trust, partnership, association and any other recipient receiving a payment from the state with a record set up in TINS.
- Paying agency
- The state agency that initiates a payment.
- Prenotification (prenote) period
- A three-banking-day test period after direct deposit account information is set up or changed where the Comptroller’s office sends a zero-dollar test transaction to the payee’s financial institution for verification before payments can be transmitted. See direct deposit effective date and notification of change (NOC).
R
- Receiving depository financial institution (RDFI)
- The payee’s financial institution.
- Reclamation
- An ACH entry to reclaim from an RDFI any amounts received by a recipient of a pension payment after death or legal incapacity or the death of a beneficiary of the recipient.
- Reinstated warrant
- A warrant reported to Treasury Operations as forged, when funds have been recovered from a financial institution and credited back to the paying agency.
- Returned money item
- A direct deposit payment that has been returned by the payee’s RDFI due to a closed account or other problems that prevent the payment from being posted to an account.
- Reversal
- An ACH transaction initiated by the Comptroller’s office at the request of a paying agency to recover an erroneous direct deposit payment from the payee’s account.
- Reversal settlement date
- The date a reversal request settles (posts) to a payee’s account, when the erroneous direct deposit payment is debited from the account. The reversal settlement date is two banking days from the date the reversal is transmitted through the ACH network. This date is different from the payment settlement date, which is the date the payment is credited to the payee’s account.
- Routing number
- A nine-digit number that identifies specific financial institutions.
S
- Screen ID
- The six-character identifier of an online or update screen.
- Secretary of state (SOS) file number
- The 10-digit business file number assigned by the Texas secretary of state, which is called the Texas charter number in TINS.
- Securing source agency
- The agency that sets the mail code security level based on the level of confidentiality on the mail code information. Only the securing source agency may process updates to that mail code.
- Security levels
- A level assigned to a mail code that restricts whether other agencies can view or change the mail code information.
- Settlement date
- The date funds are to be made available in the payee’s account.
- Social Security number (SSN)
- The SSN is a nine-digit number issued by the Social Security Administration.
- Sole owner
- The person with the exclusive title or right to a business.
- Standard Industrial Classification (SIC)
- A four-digit code used by government agencies to classify industry areas.
- Standardized Payroll/Personnel Reporting System (SPRS)
- SPRS is a Comptroller statewide financial system.
- State agency
- For this website, state agency includes a board, commission, council, committee, department, office, agency or other governmental body in the executive, legislative or judicial branch of state government. The term includes an institution of higher education, but not a public junior college or community college.
- State debt
- For this website, state debt means the liability a person owes to the state of Texas, such as a state tax delinquency or a student loan default.
T
- T mail code
- Mail codes beginning with T are restricted to state tax-related payments and are not to be used by agencies.
- Taxpayer identification number
- A number beginning with 3 set up for payment of state taxes that cannot be used by agencies.
- T-code
- The three-digit number for a TINS transaction submitted via batch.
- Texas Charter Number
- The 10-digit business file number assigned by the Texas Secretary of State, which is also known as the Secretary of State (SOS) File Number.
- Texas Identification Number (TIN)
- An 11-digit number set up to identify a payee or state debtor. In most instances, the payee or debtor must provide a SSN, ITIN or EIN to receive a TIN.
- Texas Identification Number System (TINS)
- The statewide financial system that maintains payment information on businesses and individuals who have received or will receive a payment from the state of Texas, as well as debt information on state debtors.
Note: “TINS” is the system. “TINs” are more than one payee number or TIN.
U
- Uniform Statewide Accounting System (USAS)
- USAS is the Comptroller statewide financial system used to issue payments made from funds in the state treasury.
- Uniform Statewide Payroll/Personnel System (USPS)
- USPS is a Comptroller statewide financial system.
W
- Warrant
- A state payment in the form of a paper check.
- Web Warrant Inquiry and Cancellation Request System (WWIC)
- WWIC is administered by the Comptroller’s Treasury Operations Division.