Patent US 5,285,384

A system and method for isolating and automating the transfer of tax withholdings to the appropriate tax withholding accounts. A check is provided which on its face indicates the withholding accounts and amounts withheld for each withholding account. The Payroll Trust Check (PTC) is unique in that it clears the banking system with multiple payees. Other than the employee portion (net amount), these payee amounts are accumulated in trust accounts and forwarded to the U.S. Treasury and/or other collection agencies on a daily basis. A sequence of bar codes are also printed on the check to identify the particular withholding accounts. When the check is presented for processing, the information on the front of the check is micro-coded, as is normally the case. The additional information related to the withholding accounts and amounts are also micro-coded. The check is optically scanned to read the micro-coded data and the bar code data. On the basis of the bar code data, which includes the employer's account number, a processing computer determines the actual destination to which the withholding amounts are to be electronically transferred into the proper withholding account.