New York City Offers Electronic Payment Options to Pay Real Estate Property Taxes; Payments Can Be Made By Credit Card, Via Internet

Business Wire, June 25, 2003

Business Editors

STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 25, 2003

As the due date for real estate property taxes approaches, New York City is offering e-payment options for taxpayers who owe a real estate property tax payment to the City. Real estate property bills are due on July 1, 2003.

Citizens can pay their real estate property taxes with their MasterCard, Visa, American Express and Discover payment cards. 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, which can be made via Internet at www.nyc.gov/finance or www.officialpayments.com.

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)