Last Minute Payment Options for New York City Taxpayers to Pay Real Estate Property Taxes; Payments Can Be Made By Credit Card, Via Internet

Business Wire, July 15, 2003

Business Editors

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 15, 2003

Official Payments Corporation and the City of New York City are offering electronic payment options for those taxpayers who still owe a real estate property tax payment to the City. Payments can be made via the Internet at www.nyc.gov/finance or www.officialpayments.com.

Taxpayers can pay their real estate property taxes with their MasterCard, Visa, American Express and Discover payment cards. Specific details about property tax due dates can be found on the taxpayer's real estate bill. Official Payments Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Tier Technologies (Nasdaq: TIER), is the company authorized by the City of New York to process these credit card tax payments.

Official Payments also works with the Internal Revenue Service and the State of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to accept credit card payments for federal and state taxes. Official Payments charges taxpayers a small convenience fee for the service. Taxpayers using credit cards with bonus rewards programs may, depending on their card's program, earn rewards, points, and airline frequent flyer miles or cash back for paying their taxes.

ABOUT OFFICIAL PAYMENTS

Founded in 1996, Official Payments Corporation has agreements to collect and process credit card payments with the IRS, 22 state governments (AL, AR, CA, CT, IL, IN, IA, KS, MD, MN, MS, NE, NJ, NY, OH, OK, PA, RI, VA, WA, WI, and WV), the District of Columbia, and more than 1,300 counties and municipalities. The company's principal business is enabling consumers to pay their government taxes, fees, fines, and utility bills by credit card, via Internet and telephone. In 2002, Official Payments collected and processed more than 1.4 million transactions totaling $1.2 billion in federal, state and local government payments.

Tier...Expect A Lot(sm)