Payment Scheduling – Comptroller Policy
Early Payment Discounts

The Comptroller’s policy on payment scheduling prohibits agencies from making payments earlier than the payment due date unless it is required by law, contract or other obligation to the vendor to process the payment before the payment due date.

Note: A vendor's request on an invoice that the invoice is paid immediately upon receipt is not an obligation to make an early payment to the vendor.

A state agency must negotiate a prompt payment discount with a vendor when possible. To take advantage of a prompt or early payment discount, a state agency must submit the necessary payment documents or information to the Comptroller's office sufficiently in advance to allow the Comptroller's office or the agency to pay the vendor in time to obtain the discount.

A Discount Cost Effectiveness Calculator is available to help agencies compare the benefit of making an early payment at a discount with keeping the money in the state treasury for 30 days.

See also: Advance Payments

Definitions

Payment

Money owed to a vendor.

State agency

• A board, commission, department, office or other agency in the executive branch of state government created by the constitution or a statute of this state, including an institution of higher education as defined by Texas Education Code Section 61.003.
• The Supreme Court, the Court of Criminal Appeals, a court of appeals, a state judicial agency or the State Bar of Texas.

Vendor

A person who supplies goods or a service to a state agency or another person directed by the agency. The term does not include a state agency, except for Texas Correctional Industries. The term includes an officer or employee of a state agency when acting in a private capacity to supply goods or a service.