As of October 2026, TSI’s Accounts Receivable Management (ARM) service collects delinquent individual and business taxes, unemployment tax, benefit overpayments, fees and other debts owed to state agencies. It works first-party in your agency’s name or third-party in its own, on notices you approve, with payments sent straight to the state where your contract requires it.
Federal agencies: see Federal debt and student loan collections.
Results vary by portfolio, including account age, balance and type, and by client program.
Got a letter or call from TSI about your own account? Go to the Consumer Support Hub
Where state debt stalls
Most revenue departments collect the easy balances themselves. What reaches an outside vendor is the harder layer: non-filers, taxpayers who moved out of state, businesses that closed, and old balances nobody has had time to call.
States already refer this work out. Pennsylvania’s Department of Revenue, for one, says it may use private collection agencies for non-filed returns and delinquent taxes. The question for your agency is how much control you keep when you do.
What TSI collects for state agencies
| Debt type | How TSI works it |
|---|---|
| Individual income tax | Calls and notices you approve, installment agreements inside your guidelines, separate client codes for primary and secondary placements |
| Business taxes: sales and use, corporate income, withholding, motor fuel | Business contacts worked by collectors trained on tax types, with non-filer and deficient-filer accounts kept apart |
| Unemployment tax and benefit overpayments | Collection under your program’s repayment and waiver rules |
| Health premiums, insurance liabilities and Medicaid overpayments placed by a central collection unit | Worked to the placing program’s rules, reported back by debt type |
| Court debt, license fees and civil penalties | Third-party collection under the court’s or agency’s payment rules |
| Accounts approved for suit | Referral through TSI’s legal recovery network, only where state law and your agency allow it |
Cities, counties and their courts have a separate page: collections for cities and counties.
First-party or third-party, your choice
Some agencies want taxpayers to hear the state’s name on every call. Under a first-party contract, TSI collects in your agency’s name and taxpayers pay the state directly, so no money passes through TSI.
Others want a clear line between the agency and its vendor. Under a third-party contract, TSI collects in its own name, under the notices and settlement rules you approve. Both run on the same work standards.
How the work runs
- Files arrive and get checked
Placement files come in by secure file transfer. TSI edits and validates each one, logs exceptions back to your team and keeps each tax type and tier under its own client code. - Calls start within 2 days
Calling campaigns start within 2 days of placement. Left messages get scheduled callbacks the same day, and accounts with no contact are called again every week. - One agent keeps each arrangement
When a taxpayer sets up an installment agreement, the same agent keeps the account and calls each month for the term of the agreement. - Skip tracing runs all the way through
Accounts are traced at placement and again whenever mail comes back or a number stops working, so out-of-state taxpayers don’t drop off. - Every action is logged
Each call, letter and payment is time-stamped with the user who made it, so the history is ready when your auditors or legislators ask.
Public-sector controls
For government engagements, data, systems and collection staff stay in the United States, and work outside the country needs your approval first. Collectors work in English and Spanish, with interpreters for other languages and TTY or relay service for callers who are deaf or hard of hearing.
TSI is licensed or registered in every state that requires it and authorized to collect in all 50 states, DC and Puerto Rico (NMLS ID 950422). Across its services it reports a 99.997% complaint-free contact rate, and it has been in business since 1970.
At the federal level, TSI has worked debt for the U.S. Treasury’s Bureau of the Fiscal Service since 2018 as one of five private collection agencies, and held Department of Education prime contracts from 1998 to 2017. Treasury’s performance evaluations recommend TSI for similar work in the future.
Where TSI isn’t the fit: TSI doesn’t publish recovery rates across state clients, because results swing with tax type, age and how much your own staff worked the account first. Ask for results on placements like yours, and for references, early in the procurement.
Frequently asked questions
Can taxpayers pay the state directly instead of TSI?
Yes. Under a first-party contract, TSI collects in your agency’s name and every payment goes straight to the state.
Does TSI work non-filer accounts?
Yes. Non-filer (delinquent) and deficient-filer accounts are kept on separate client codes, with their own contact plan.
How fast does TSI start calling?
Calling campaigns start within 2 days of placement, and accounts with no contact are called again weekly.
Does TSI collect for central collection units that place many debt types?
Yes. Each debt type gets its own client code, rules and reporting, so the placing program sees its own results.
Test one tier before you rebid
The Recovery Performance Diagnostic sets baseline economics on one tax type or placement tier, reviews contact strategy and complaint risk, and designs a carve-out that runs beside your current vendors where your procurement rules allow. Before the rebid, put each vendor's placements and fees into the agency net-back calculator to see what reached your treasury.
General information, current as of October 27, 2026. It isn’t legal advice. Rules change and differ by state, so check the sources linked here and talk to your own counsel before you act on it.