The U.S. Department of the Treasury's Bureau of the Fiscal Service Wednesday announced that Pay.gov, the government's secure web based collection portal for payments to federal agencies, now offers both PayPal and Dwolla as payment options. This implementation is part of an ongoing effort to move away from paper-based processes to more efficient and secure electronic transactions for the Federal Government, according to a press release.

"Digital wallets provide convenience, simplicity, and a trusted customer experience, while achieving cost effectiveness for the Federal Government," said Corvelli McDaniel, assistant commissioner for revenue collections management for fiscal service. "We are commited to operational excellence and continually improving our business processes; digital wallets help us achieve that goal."

The department said the goal of these partnerships is to expand the options customers have for transactions with the Federal Government, providing customers greater choice and a better customer experience. For example, customers required to submit a court filing fee at a U.S. Court, or citizens who wish to make a donation to the National Endowment of the Arts, will have similar payment options currently available to them on popular private sector websites.

In fiscal year 2014, the Fiscal Service collected $3.73 trillion in revenue processing 400 million transactions through several programs, including Pay.gov. Nearly 98 percent ($3.69 trillion) was settled electronically.

The Fiscal Service's objective is to provide a suite of electronic payment options to achieve the long term goal of moving to electronic transactions from less efficient paper-based transactions using services available in the private sector when possible, according to the announcement.