1. (a) Documents submitted to the Office of the Secretary of State for filing by electronic transmission using a facsimile (FAX) machine must be accompanied by appropriate payment of any applicable fees. Payment of these fees may be either simultaneously electronically transmitted with the documents or delivered to this office by the close of the same business day. Documents for which the applicable fees have not been received by the secretary of state on the same date of transmission will be returned to the sender without filing by regular mail.
2. (b) Fees payable to the Office of the Secretary of State may be paid with a valid and current VISA or Mastercard or such other credit card specified in the contract then existing between the Office of the Secretary of State, the Texas State Treasury Department, and the relevant financial institution.
3. (c) Fees payable to the Office of the Secretary of State may also be paid through an automated clearinghouse (ACH) debit system account established by an agreement executed between the debit system account applicant and the financial institution under contract to the Office of the Secretary of State and the Texas State Treasury Department.
4. (d) The Office of the Secretary of State requires users of the credit card payment option to pay the relevant statutory fee or fees plus a processing cost. The amount to be collected "per credit card transaction" in connection with this payment option is currently set at 2.1% of the total fees incurred. The amount of this processing cost is subject to change, based on such factors as incidental costs, including any set forth in accordance with the existing contract(s) between the Office of the Secretary of State, the Texas State Treasury Department, and the relevant financial institution. For purposes of this rule, "per credit card transaction" shall be defined as simultaneous payment of one or more fees using a VISA or Mastercard or other valid and current credit card designated by the contract(s) then existing between the Office of the Secretary of State, the Texas State Treasury Department, and the relevant financial institution. The basis for the processing cost is to recover any additional costs incurred by the secretary of state in providing the public with this alternate method for payment, including costs assessed by the relevant financial institution(s). The secretary of state shall deposit all fees and processing costs collected under this payment option in the Texas state treasury.

5. (e) To utilize this payment option for documents filed with the secretary of state, the document sender must either submit a completed credit card payment form available from the secretary of state or provide the following information in written form:

   1. (1) the name of the credit card being used (VISA or Mastercard or such other card as may be referred to in the contract between the Office of the Secretary of State, the Texas State Treasury Department, and the relevant financial institution);
   2. (2) the account number of the credit card;
   3. (3) the expiration date of the credit card;
   4. (4) the signature of the card holder;
   5. (5) the sum of all fees to be charged; and
   6. (6) the current percentage processing cost based on the total amount of fees incurred in the transaction.
6. (f) If a credit card payment is dishonored when presented by the state for payment, the secretary of state shall treat the document submitted for filing in the same manner as if no filing fee had been presented. The secretary of state will then be entitled to take all appropriate action authorized by law.

Source Note:The provisions of this §71.12 adopted to be effective January 2, 1992, 16 TexReg 7469; amended to be effective January 10, 1994, 18 TexReg 9927.