ACR 29965 – TINS System Change
July 8, 2011
Introduction
ACR 29965 modified the Texas Identification Number System (TINS) to change what prints on a warrant effective July 8, 2011.
Issue 1
Vendor payment and employee deduction warrants are generated with the Texas Identification Number (TIN) on the face of the warrant and on the warrant stub. The TIN contains the Social Security number (SSN) for the payee.
The Social Security Number Protection Act of 2010 prohibits all levels of government from “displaying the Social Security account number of any individual, or any derivative of such number, on any check issued for any payment by the federal, state or local agency.” However, federal guidelines require employers to put the SSN identifying number on the face of the warrant for federal tax levies and administrative wage garnishments.
Solution 1
ACR 29965 made changes to the warrant print program to mask SSNs for the TINs prefixed with a 2 that process through the Uniform Statewide Accounting System (USAS). The masking will replace the first five digits of an SSN (digits 2-6 of the TIN).
Example: 2xxxxx12345
Note: This masking of SSNs will also occur for annuitant payments for the Employees Retirement System and Teacher Retirement System processed using Document Type 7. For annuitant federal tax levy and/or wage garnishments processed using Document Type 7, the following three characters must be populated using bytes 78-80 of the USAS invoice description field:
- LEV for Tax Levy
- FGO for Wage Garnishment
Issue 2
The United States Postal Service is in the process of retiring the POSTNET barcode in favor of the Intelligent Mail Barcode for Mailpieces.
Solution 2
Remove the POSTNET barcode from the warrant print program.
Issue 3
The warrant stub text did not include how to sign up for direct deposit.
Solution 3
The text now includes the URL for the Texas Direct Deposit website.
For More Information
If you have questions, please contact the Payment Services section at (512) 936-8138 or tins.mail@cpa.texas.gov.