December 10, 1998 To All States and Commonwealths Dear Sir/Madam: On November 30, 1998, the United States Government implemented a new credit card program that replaced its purchase cards (I.M.P.A.C.), travel cards (American Express), and fleet cards (Wright Express) with one consolidated program. This new program is called "GSA SmartPay" and is effective for 5 years, with five 1-year options to renew (for a total possible contract period of 10 years). Instead of a single provider of card based services, the Federal Government has awarded multiple contracts. Cards will now be issued by Citibank, First National Bank of Chicago, NationsBank, Mellon Bank and U.S. Bank. All cards issued will have unique prefixes and account numbers, government-designed artwork, and wording that denotes the card is for use by the United States of America. Card designs may be viewed on our web site at http://www.fss.gsa.gov/services/gsa-smartpay, while the enclosure more fully describes the account numbering structure. This letter is to ask for your continued support of the GSA SmartPay card programs by continuing to extend tax exemption status for Federal Government credit card purchases, where applicable. Tax exemption results in significant cost savings for the Federal Government. I ask that your State or Commonwealth continue to recognize that credit card purchases made and paid directly by the Federal Government are tax exempt by returning a written confirmation to GSA/FSS/FCXC ATTN: GSA SmartPay Program E-mail (PREFERRED METHOD OF CONFIRMATION): rosemarie.dunn@gsa.gov 1941 Jefferson Davis Highway, Room 507 Arlington, VA 22202 (703) 305-5094 (Facsimile) I also ask that you review and rescind any requirement for the Federal Government to provide a tax exemption certificate when a Federal Government credit card is used as the method of purchase. This requirement for paper submission is administratively burdensome for the Federal Government as well as the merchant. If elimination of the tax exemption certificate for credit card transactions is not possible, I ask that you then recognize the number "4700" as the United States Government's tax exemption number for credit card transactions. This would assist greatly in streamlining the purchase process by not requiring that each Federal cardholder provide a tax exemption certificate to each merchant transacted with. If you have any questions, please call Rosemarie Dunn at (703) 308-4191 or Leslie Brown at (703) 305-5865. Thank you so much for your continued support! Sincerely, Rebecca A. Koses Contracting Officer Services Acquisition Center GSA SmartPay Program Fleet Cards: All Federal Government fleet cards are centrally billed. This means that all charges are billed directly to the Federal Government and paid directly by the Federal Government. The account numbering structure for all fleet cards is as follows: Prefix (1st four digits) Platform Issued By Centrally Billed? 8699 Voyager Citibank, NationsBank and U.S. Bank Yes 5568 MasterCard Citibank, First National Bank of Chicago, NationsBank and U.S. Bank Yes Purchase Cards: All Federal Government purchase cards are centrally billed. This means that all charges are billed directly to the Federal Government and paid directly by the Federal Government. The account numbering structure for all purchase cards is as follows: Prefix (1st four digits) Platform Issued By Centrally Billed? 4486 & 4716 Visa Citibank, NationsBank and U.S. Bank Yes 5568 MasterCard Citibank, First National Bank of Chicago, NationsBank, Mellon Bank and U.S. Bank Yes Travel Cards: Federal Government travel cards may be centrally billed or individually billed. Individually billed charges are billed to and paid by the Federal employee, and then reimbursed by the Federal Government. Centrally billed charges are billed directly to and paid directly by the Federal Government. The 6th digit of the account numbering structure will denote whether the travel card is centrally or individually billed as follows: Prefix (1st four digits) Sixth Digit Platform Issued By Billing Type 4486 & 4716 & 5568 0, 6, 7, 8, 9 Visa and MasterCard Citibank, First National Bank of Chicago, NationsBank, and U.S. Bank Centrally Billed 4486 & 4716 & 5568 1, 2, 3, 4 Visa and MasterCard Citibank, First National Bank of Chicago, NationsBank, and U.S. Bank Individually Billed Integrated Cards: Federal Government integrated cards include fleet, travel and/or purchase functionality and offers the Federal Government a single card for all of its purchases. All fleet and purchase type transactions on an integrated card are centrally billed. Travel functionality may be centrally billed or individually billed. For travel functionality only, the 6th digit of the account numbering structure will denote whether the travel card is centrally or individually billed as follows: Prefix (1st four digits) Sixth Digit Platform Issued By Billing Type 4486 & 4716 & 5568 0, 6, 7, 8, 9 Visa and MasterCard Citibank, First National Bank of Chicago, NationsBank, and U.S. Bank Centrally Billed 4486 & 4716 & 5568 1, 2, 3, 4 Visa and MasterCard Citibank, First National Bank of Chicago, NationsBank, and U.S. Bank Individually Billed The 6th digit does not impact fleet or purchase functionality in any way--again, fleet and purchase type transactions on an integrated card are centrally billed.

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