Should you have a question or concern not covered here, please contact Pay.gov Customer Support
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the questions below are of a high-level nature, for security reasons answers to technical questions are not available here. To obtain copies of Pay.gov technical documentation please:
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1. General Questions
What is Pay.gov?
Pay.gov is a collection of websites and services that allow your US Government agency to accept payments from the public, collect related information, and manage your other Pay.gov collection activities. Your customers — individuals, business, and other organizations — can make online payments using a number of methods, and can view and manage their transactions and transaction history. Pay.gov separates customer and agency activities by having two websites: a public site at https://www.pay.gov/public/ and an agency
website at https://www.pay.gov/myagency/.
Do all government agencies use Pay.gov?
No. Many, but not all, agencies use Pay.gov and some use Pay.gov for only a portion of the payment types they collect.
What web browsers can I use to access Pay.gov?
Most current Web browsers for major operating systems on computers and mobile devices can be used, including Edge®, Mozilla FireFox®, Safari® and Google Chrome®. Less common Web browser and operating systems have not been tested.
Is Pay.gov secure?
Yes. Pay.gov uses the latest industry-standard encryption methods to protect agency and agency customer transactions. In addition, customer account numbers entered on Pay.gov are masked online, only asterisks and the last four digits are shown. If a customer chooses to store payment information online, their account numbers are encrypted before being added to the Pay.gov database.
Is Pay.gov PCI compliant?
Yes. Pay.gov is included in Visa's Global List of Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) Validated Service Providers. A copy of Pay.gov's current Attestation of Compliance document can be downloaded from Pay.gov's documentation website at https://qa.pay.gov/agencydocs/index.html. Open the Architecture, Security, Compliance, and Fraud Management section.
Does Pay.gov provide uptime statistics?
Yes. See the table below. Uptime is defined as the amount of time Pay.gov is available in the production environment during scheduled critical hour. Pay.gov's critical hours are 24 hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week, 365 days-a year, excluding the weekly maintenance window on Sundays from 2:00 a.m. to 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time. Downtime could be caused by infrastructure, application, or third-party vendor issues.
| January 2025 | February 2025 | March 2025 | April 2025 | May 2025 | June 2025 | July 2025 | August 2025 | September 2025 | October/th> | November 2025025 | Decenber 2025 | |
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| Uptime Goal (in %) | 99.8 | 99.8 | 99.8 | 99.8 | 99.8 | 99.8 | 99.8 | 99.8 | 99.8 | 99.8 | 99.8 | 99.8 |
| Minimally Acceptable Uptime (in %) | 99.8 | 99.8 | 99.8 | 99.8 | 99.8 | 99.8 | 99.8 | 99.8 | 99.8 | 99.8 | 99.8 | 99.8 |
| Actual Application Uptime (in %) | 99.76 | 99.99 | 99.96 | 99.15 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Actual Infrastructure Uptime (in %) | 100 | 100 | 100 | 99.86 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
2. User Account Questions
What is a customer?
A customer is any person, business, or other entity that conducts transactions with an agency via Pay.gov. Agency employees performing their job functions on Pay.gov are agency users, not customers.
What is a Pay.gov account?
An account is a higher level of access to Pay.gov transactions and other functions available only after you or a customer signs in to Pay.gov. It is created by being registered with Pay.gov and requires association with ID.me or Login.gov for the Public site. Agency users sign in to the Agency Collections website using their PIV/CAC credetials.
If you are an agency user, your account gives access to the functions you are allowed to perform on Pay.gov. You will be notified when an account is created for you and are required to associate the account with your PIV/CAC credentials to sign in. Your agency's Pay.gov Security Contacts set up your account and role.
Customers are not always required to have an account. Most payments can be made without having one. For others, your agency may require customers to have an account, or request an account through the agency, before they can conduct a transaction. In that case, Pay.gov Customers can also self-register to create an account; they will be able to create their own username
What is a PIV/CAC account?
Agency users must associate their Agency Collections (myagency) website account with their PIV/CAC credentials and use the credentials to sign in.
What are the requirements for an ID.me or Login.gov username and password?
Follow the instructions when you associate your Pay.gov account with ID.me or Login.gov. You will need to enter an email address and create a password, verify your email by receiving and entering a code, and have the option to set up a second level of authentication.
I or a customer forgot their ID.me or Login.gov username (email) or password, what shoud we do?
Go to the Help Center on the ID.me or Login.gov website.
3. Usage Questions
Why do I need to verify my identity?
The verification process is an industry standard to provide a better experience when making a payment.
For ID.me or Login.gov you are required to enter a code for two-factor identification each time you sign in to Pay.gov.
What if I don't receive a security code email?
If you did not receive an email with a one-time security code, please make sure you are checking the email used with ID.me. Please check your spam folder. You may need to go to the Help Center on the ID.me or Login.gov website to request it be sent again.
What if I don't know my security answer?
Check if you have written it down somewhere. You can also verify your identity by requesting a one-time security code. You can then change your secret question and answer in your Pay.gov account profile.
What if I am stuck?
Do not worry. Go to the ID.me or Login.gov Help Center or call Pay.gov Customer Support at (800) 624-1373.
Do I have to verify my identity each time I sign in?
No. After verifying, you can register your device and browser. However, if you sign in on a different device or browser you will have to validate and register again.
I've signed in. What do I do next?
Depending on what website you sign in on (Public, Agency Collections), you can select and perform any function shown on the page. Only functions you have been granted permission to perform are shown on the page.
4. Payments and Payment Processing
What can customers use to make payments on Pay.gov?
What are the payment amount limits?
Amounts for payments made on Pay.gov are limited.
What are the payment cut-off times?
Payments must be completed before the following cut-off times on a business day if they are to be credited to that date:
What is the payment processing schedule for Pay.gov?
Pay.gov is available 24 hours-a-day, 7 days-a-week (holidays included) with the possible exceptions of a maintenance window every Sunday from 2:00 am to 6:00 am Eastern Time. ACH processing takes place only on banking business days and will not settle on Federal Reserve Bank holidays. Credit Card and Debit Card payments are processed the next business day as determined by the settlement agent. Payments through Amazon Pay and PayPal are processed according to the schedule set by the payment service's settlement agent.
All information provided on this website copyright © 2025
United States Department of the treasury, Bureau of the Fiscal Service,
401 14th Street SW, Washington, DC 20227
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