Positive pay set up and processing
For live payroll processing only
Positive Pay is a service you can use to share your check register with a selected bank electronically. The bank will then pay only checks listed in and using the same specifications as that register, which reduces the likelihood of check fraud.
note
Positive Pay vendor checks are limited to payroll agent and tax agent vendors, as these are the only vendor types eligible for impounding. Checks issued to trade vendors or 1099 recipient vendors aren't included in Positive Pay files, as these vendor types aren't supported by this feature.
You can create Positive Pay files to send to your bank, but currently this feature is supported only for firm impound banks and those only using the
Citizens
or Citizens with Payee Name
format. note
It may be possible to use the
Citizens
or Citizens with Payee Name
format with other banks as long as the Positive Pay file specifications of those banks are the same as the Citizens
formats.Once you've registered with the bank to use Positive Pay, do the following to set up the bank to create Positive Pay files.
Set up the bank account
- To set up Positive Pay information for the firm impound bank account, selectSetup,Firm Information, thenImpound Bank Accounts.
- In theImpound Bank Accountsscreen, select the bank account thenEdit.
- In the Positive Pay section, use the dropdown to select the file format.
- In theTransaction start datefield, select the date you want to begin including transactions from this bank account in Positive Pay files.
- SelectEnterto save your changes.
Create and manage positive pay files
Do the following to create Positive Pay files to send to your bank:
- Create and print checks from the bank account as usual.
- SelectActions,Process Positive Pay, thenImpound Bank Accounts.
- In theProcess Positive Pay Impound Bank Accountsscreen, transactions are listed in the grid by bank account. Expand the list of transactions and select individual transactions by marking their checkboxes, or mark the checkbox next to the bank account to select all transactions from that bank account.
- Preview the files by marking the checkbox next to the bank account or next to individual transactions then selectingPreview Selected.
- With all transactions selected, selectCreate Filesto create the Positive Pay files and store them in the default file location, which is shown at the bottom of the screen.noteYou can change the default file location for Positive Pay files in theFile Creationtab of theFile Locationswindow.
- If necessary, preview the created files by selectingManage Filesto open theManage Fileswindow.
Positive pay file structure
Some banks may not accept the Citizens Bank file format, but they might be willing to work on converting files to that format. The following table provides the positioning and maximum character information that a bank will need to accommodate the file structure.
Positions | Length | Description | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|
01-10 | 10 | Account Number | Right justified, left zero filled |
11-20 | 10 | Serial Number | Right justified, left zero filled |
21-30 | 10 | Dollar Amount | Right justified, left zero filled (Omit decimal – |
31-36 | 6 | Issue Date | MMDDYY |
37-37 | 1 | Record Type | V = Void |
38-52 | 15 | *Additional Data 1 | Repeat the 1st positions of the payee name if needed for reporting |
53-112 | 60 | **Payee Name | Left justified with the exact contents of the payee line as it appears on the issued check |
113-180 | 68 | Additional Data 3 | Reserved for future use |
*The 1st 15 positions of additional data, for each check, are displayed on the reconciliation reports and on the CD-ROM product.
**The Payee Name field is only required if the customer has subscribed to the Payee Positive Pay feature of Positive Pay.
