Prior to passage of The Taxpayer First Act (TFA), IRC 6311(d) allowed the IRS to enter into contracts related to receiving tax payments by debit card or credit card but prohibited the IRS from paying a fee under such contract. The current regulations reflect this prohibition. The TFA amended section 6311(d) to allow the IRS to pay a fee under a contract related to receiving tax payments by debit or credit card so long as the fee is recouped from the taxpayer.

These regulations remove the prohibition on paying a fee under such a contract, remove the prohibition on charging the tax payer a fee, specifies that the reimbursement fee received from the taxpayer is not a tax and is not eligible for refund or credit under section 6402, specifies that the error resolution procedures in the regulation apply to the reimbursement fee, and requires the Commissioner to seek to minimize the amount of the fee paid under such a contract.