USAS User’s Manual –
Chapter 11 – Payment Processing
Overview of Payment Processing
About this Chapter
This chapter focuses on the two main phases of a payment:
- Generation
- Cancellation
Purpose of Payment Processing
USAS Payment Processing:
- Provides automated generation of payments to both payees and employees (warrants and direct deposits).
- Provides for cancellation of a single payment or entire documents that generate payments.
- Can automatically generate payback transactions for special funds that have 'loaned' cash to the General Fund.
Note: The term ‘payee’ replaces the term ‘vendor’ on all USAS forms. Currently, USAS screens and reports use ‘vendor.’ Throughout this chapter, the terms ‘payee’ and ‘vendor’ are used interchangeably.
Design Concepts
The USAS Payment Processing function:
- Tracks payments by payee by the TINS payee number.
- Provides the ability to identify how transactions will be combined for payments. This is done by the Payment Distribution Type (PDT).
- Processes payments based on the due date.
- Provides online inquiry for payment information.
Screens used in Payment Processing for online inquiry include:
- 37 Document Tracking Inquiry
- 41 Disbursement Maintenance*
- 44 Single Payment Cancellation*
- 45 Document/Payment Range Cancellation*
- 84 Accounting Event Record Inquiry
- 85 Vendor Transaction Inquiry
- 86 Document Transaction Inquiry
* These profiles are maintained by the Comptroller’s office. Agencies may use these screens for inquiry purposes only.
Processing Types
Payment transactions are entered through normal online and batch processing. Payment documents are approved and tracked through the Document Tracking subsystem. The remaining processes are performed by the Payment Processing functions.
Note: During Payment Processing, the transactions must pass data element and funding edits even though the transactions passed these edits earlier during the Batch IEU. Only error-free and approved documents are processed through Payment Processing. Payment Processing is the final step for a payment transaction before it can go to history.
Online Processing (Online IEU)
Online Processing allows users to:
- Change the Payment Distribution Type (PDT) from the payee’s default in TINS for the transactions on a document or a single payee within a given document or on the individual Transaction Entry screen.
- Request the cancellation of USAS warrants through the Treasury Operations System Services (TOSS) website. Submit a Payment Cancellation Voucher form (73-179) to the Comptroller’s Fiscal Management Division if the warrant meets one of the following criteria:
- On hold due to a state debt by the payee
- A post-dated USPS or SPRS payroll deduction
- A reinstated warrant as a result of a reported forgery
Batch Processing (Batch IEU)
Batch Processing includes:
- Functions needed to issue warrants or direct deposits.
- Functions needed to cancel previously issued payments. The batch cycle processes transactions generated from cancellation requests made through online cancellation screens.
- Payment processing during the nightly batch process. The payment processing cycle runs after the Batch IEU cycle.
TINS (Texas Identification Number System)
TINS is maintained by the Comptroller’s office and keeps up-to-date information on state payees as provided by state agencies and institutions of higher education.
Elements Used by Payment Processing
The following elements are used in the warrant generation/cancellation process:
- Payee Number
- Payee Mail Code
- Disbursement Method Indicator (DMI)
- Payment Distribution Type (PDT)
- Payment Number
- Due Date
- Payee’s Indebtedness to the State
- Invoice Number
- Document Date (for Payroll Transactions)
Payee Number
The payee number identifies the payee. The payee is the person or entity from which a purchase was made or a service was rendered. There are two types of payees: Non-TINS (USAS) payees and TINS payees. The first digit determines the type of payee.
The records for Non-TINS (USAS) payees are defined in USAS, and are not added to the TINS vendor file. Payments should be tracked by the agencies for 1099 reporting purposes. Non-TINS (USAS) payee numbers begin with zero.
A Non-TINS (USAS) payee must be established in the USAS Vendor Profile (34) if:
- The agency is requesting a reimbursement from Treasury funds for locally funded disbursements
–OR– - The agency is recording local fund disbursements at the vendor level in USAS
Non-TINS (USAS) vendors/payees cannot be used to process payment-generating transactions, but may be used for other agency purposes.
TINS vendors/payees are defined in TINS. The information is not contained in USAS and cannot be set-up or changed in USAS. The USAS 34 screen can be used to retrieve records from TINS. TINS payee numbers begin with 1, 3 or 7.
Note: TINS vendor/payee numbers starting with 2 were based on a Social Security number (SSN) or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). Effective March 2014, the Comptroller’s office replaced SSN- or ITIN-based numbers starting with 2 with randomly assigned numbers that start with 7.
TINS payee number first digit values:
- Begins with 1: Based on the payee’s employer identification number (EIN). Payees may include partnerships, corporations, professional associations, sole owners, etc.
- Begins with 3: Comptroller-assigned numbers.
- Begins with 7: Randomly assigned payee numbers. Payees include state employees, sole owners and individuals.
Note: During the four-day grace period, a user may process a payment by entering a 2 followed by the payee’s SSN or ITIN in the vendor number field. USAS automatically converts the submitted number to the randomly assigned payee number that begins with 7. After the four-day grace period, USAS returns an error message and requires the user to enter the payee number that begins with 7.
Mail Code
The mail code identifies the payee’s mailing address. A single payee may have multiple mail codes.
Disbursement Method Indicator
The Disbursement Method Indicator (DMI) determines how a transaction will be processed. The DMI provides USAS with certain special payment processing instructions, such as not generating a payment for a T-code that would normally generate a payment.
Note: USAS edits ensure that the DMI is the same for all transactions for a payee within the same document.
DMI values:
- H-Hold: Payment document where the payment is temporarily delayed.
- R-Release: Generates a payment using normal payment processing methods.
- M-Manual: Central use only. Suppresses payment generation when using payment T-Codes.
- E-Expedite: Central use only. Generates an expedited payment through USAS Payment Processing. The expedite allows the system to ignore a future due date and generates the payment in the next scheduled cycle.
- C-Cancel: Central use only. Suppresses payment generation when using payment T-Codes.
- Blank: No action. The document is not a payment.
Note: Only the Comptroller’s office can change or enter a DMI of E (Expedite). The requesting agency must submit an original written request for Fiscal Management to process a DMI change. Changing the DMI to E (Expedite) may be used to override a future due date on a transaction.
Payment Distribution Type (PDT)
The Payment Distribution Type (PDT) functions as the general payment instructions to the system and identifies:
- How transactions should be combined for warrants and direct deposits. (For example, across documents* or across appropriated funds.)
- How warrants will be routed.
- What type of payment will be issued (direct deposit or warrant).
- Whether the payee is on hold.
- Whether the transaction is an interagency payment (ITV).
- The first position identifies the type of payment to generate (warrant, direct deposit, etc.). The second position determines whether the payment will cross documents or funds or will be on hold.
*PDTs to cross documents cannot be used with USAS payrolls.
Note: System-generated PDTs reference the payee’s setup in TINS. The PDT defaults to the value on TINS if it is not coded:
The PDT defaults to the value on TINS if it is not coded:
| If the TINS PDT is… | And the payment method is… | Then default to… |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | Warrant | R |
| 1 | Hold Warrant | RH |
| 2 | Direct Deposit | D |
| 3 | Hold (Direct Deposit) | DH |
| 4 | Direct Mail | M |
| 5 | Hold (Direct Mail) | MH |
All transactions for a payment batch are created with the individual payee’s PDT established in the TINS Vendor File (this is the default) unless a USAS PDT is entered on the Batch Header or a USAS PDT is entered on an individual transaction. Entering a PDT on the Batch Header will override the default PDTs for all payees in the entire batch. If a PDT is entered on an individual transaction, then only the default PDT for that transaction will be overridden.
An agency will allow the PDT value to default from TINS unless:
- The payee is on direct deposit but wants a warrant.
- An agency wishes to combine payments across documents or appropriated funds.
See USAS Reference for current PDTs.
Payment Number
The Payment Number is assigned for a warrant or direct deposit payment and the transaction(s) for which the payment has been paid.
Warrant numbers are nine digits; direct deposit payment numbers are seven digits.
For the payment sort sequence, see Warrant Sort Keys and Distribution.
A warrant and remittance advice (warrant stub) is prepared for all payments that are not direct deposits.
Due Date
The Due Date identifies the date a payment will be processed.
- If the due date is not entered, the payment is processed during the nightly cycle after the transaction is posted, approved, and error-free.
- If the due date has already passed, a payment will be generated in the next cycle.
Note: The issue date on a warrant is the date the warrant is available for distribution based on the USAS D61 Current Date Profile. For bimonthly or monthly payroll warrants and annuity payrolls, the date on the warrant is the due date of payment. Payroll dates are edited against the D62 Payroll Date Profile.
TINS Hold Reason Code
The TINS Hold Reason Code is an element in TINS used to denote payees on hold. Payees can be put on hold for outstanding liabilities to the State of Texas, such as taxes, student loans, and child support.
- For payees on hold in TINS, a warrant is produced by USAS and physically held by the Comptroller’s office.
For example, if a payee is on hold and on direct deposit, a warrant is generated and held. The PDT will change automatically by the system to DH (direct deposit hold).
- Payroll is held only for child support indebtedness reported by the Office of the Attorney General. Lump sum payments for accrued vacation time are subject to all types of debts.
- Any valid ‘Hold’ PDT value results in a held warrant.
The Payment Processing function checks the hold reason code in TINS on the due date of the transaction to determine whether payments to a given payee are ‘On Hold.’
If a payee is on hold, the USAS Payment Processing function will change the second character of the PDT to H (Hold). The first character of the PDT will not be changed. For example, a PDT of RH will issue a warrant, but the warrant will be held since the payee is on hold per the second character of the PDT.
If a payee has been taken off the hold status in TINS at the time the payment is processed, USAS will also take the payee’s PDT to non-hold.
Invoice Number
The Invoice Number codes invoice information for non-payroll transactions. If an agency uses the invoice number field, this information will be recorded on the addenda record for payees paid by direct deposit and on the warrant remittance advice (warrant stub).
Up to eight invoice numbers appear on the warrant remittance advice.
- If the warrant generates late payment interest and includes less than eight invoice numbers, the last line on the warrant stub describes the total interest amount paid on the warrant.
- If the warrant generates late payment interest and includes more than eight invoice numbers, the eighth line of the warrant stub describes the total interest amount paid on the warrant.
Document Date
The Document Date is coded on payroll transactions to indicate the payroll period’s ending date.
For non-payroll payment transactions, the document date is required for all capitalized outlays.
The document date is edited against the effective date in the 97 System Management Profile and the dates established in the D62 Payroll Date Profile and D61 Current Date Profile to determine the type of payroll.