Merchant

An Internal Revenue Service announcement that it will not penalize independent sales organizations showing a “good faith” effort to supply the IRS with newly required merchant-transaction data for the 2011 tax year does not represent a total reprieve from the new regulations, a tax-compliance service provider says.

Small merchants remain woefully ignorant about card-transaction security, but independent sales organizations can do something about it, according to the industry insiders who completed a recent survey.

Those who want a say in future card-data security standards may send feedback to the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council for the next six months, a council executive says.

Using an effective online banking data-security method customers view as nonintrusive represents the best option for financial institutions as fraud-prevention capabilities increasingly become key factors in consumer choice, a fraud expert suggests in a recent study report.

VeriFone Systems Inc. will provide EMV point-of-sale card-acceptance systems in the Caribbean to payments processor First Data Corp. in a deal the payment-terminal maker announced Oct. 31.

CHICAGO–Merchant acquirers, independent sales organizations and payment processors should become better “payment consultants” for their merchant clients and provide as much advice as possible regarding data security.

Independent sales organizations should concentrate on making their Internal Revenue Service reporting more efficient and merchant friendly instead of trying to turn it into a profit center, says a tax-compliance service provider.

Heartland Payment Systems reported favorable third-quarter earnings Oct. 27, but it is still too early to tell if its “Durbin Dollars” promotion is paying off, an analyst says.

Apriva LLC plans to launch a mobile wallet next month that could help independent sales organizations and agents stake their claim on part of the mobile-payments market.

Linkable Networks Inc. is putting a new spin on merchant-funded rewards with a system that enables consumers to link retail offers they see in various advertisements online, in print and on television directly to a credit or debit card account.