Official Payments has announced that it has recently expanded its roster of payment partners to offer a total of eleven payment options for taxpayers -- American Express, Discover, MasterCard and Visa cards, debit cards participating in the NYCE, PULSE, STAR and ACCEL payment networks, and Bill Me Later. The company also enables American Express cardmembers to pay their taxes using Membership Rewards points.

Headline News is compiled by Glenbrook Partners:

• Braintree Launches Card-Not-Present End-to-End Encryption Solution
• First Paid Healthcare Solutions Now Available in Puerto Rico
• MasterCard and Gemalto Partner on Global Card Replacement Services
• First Data Consolidates Operations and Management of its Business

• CUinsight: New Era Begins for NACHA Operating Rules and Guidelines
• NetBanker: Google Launches More Financial Product Comparison Pages: Savings Accounts, Checking, CDs, and Mortgages
• CNNMoney: U.S. Treasury Launches Tax Refund Prepaid Debit Card
• PayPal Blog: PayPal Opens New Customer Support Center in Malaysia
• BAI Banking Strategies: Leveraging ATMs for the ‘Bank of Mom and Dad’

Link2Gov has announced the availability of businesstaxpayment.com, Link2Gov’s new consolidated business tax payment site. At businesstaxpayment.com, businesses can use credit and debit cards to pay the federal business tax types — multiple variations of Forms 940, 941, 943, 944 and 945 — that have been designated by the Internal Revenue Service as eligible for card-based payments. READ MORE »

This tax season, MasterCard is working with both H&R Block and TurboTax to provide discounts to its cardholders on the purchase of online tax preparation services:

• For H&R Block's TaxCut Online, consumers purchasing with their MasterCards can save 35 percent when they purchase using the http://hrblock.com/goto/mastercard website.
• For TurboTax Online, consumers purchasing with their MasterCards can save 20 percent when purchasing at the Official Payments website http://www.officialpayments.com/turbotaxmc. For detailed terms and conditions on both discounts, see the MasterCard Tax Payments web site.