Accepted payment methods

• Check or money order – make payable to "Director of the USPTO." There is a $50 processing fee for any check returned to the USPTO unpaid. Trademark fees are not accepted by check or money order except in certain circumstances, such as a system outage.
• Credit card – the USPTO accepts American Express, Discover, MasterCard, and Visa credit cards. There is a $24,999.99 daily limit per credit card account. Individual transactions greater than $24,999.99 may not be split into two or more transactions over one or multiple days. Note: We may at any time refuse credit cards associated with any fraudulent activity, including fraudulent chargebacks.
• Debit card – the USPTO accepts debit cards, including prepaid cards, which do not require the use of a PIN. There is no daily limit for debit cards. Note: We may refuse at any time debit cards associated with any fraudulent activity, including fraudulent chargebacks.
• Deposit account – a prepaid account maintained in Financial Manager and funded in advance of use. A pre-authorization to charge a deposit account may be used to satisfy any deficiency in payment, thus preserving the original filing date or payment date of an application.
• Electronic funds transfer (EFT) via ACH Debit – an online account maintained in Financial Manager and settled via the ACH Network process from your U.S. bank account. All new EFT profiles are subject to an account verification process prior to first use (generally eight business days). There is a $50 processing fee for any EFT payment returned to the USPTO unpaid.
• Electronic funds transfer (EFT) via ACH Credit – made through your financial institution and processed from your U.S. bank account via the ACH Network to replenish deposit accounts only.
• Wire transfer – made through your financial institution via the Federal Reserve Fedwire system to pay patent fees or replenish deposit accounts. Trademark fees are not accepted by wire transfer.

Select the USPTO system from the table below corresponding to the type of payment you wish to make. We accept credit cards, debit cards that do not require a PIN, deposit accounts, or EFT when paying online. Guest users can only pay with a credit or debit card, but signed in USPTO.gov account users can pay with any payment method stored in Financial Manager.

If your deadline is today and the system is unavailable, refer to the alternative payment instructions in the Pay by fax or mail section below.

Patent fees

The fax number depends on the type of payment you wish to make. We accept credit and debit card, or deposit account when paying by fax. For credit and debit card payments, include the Credit Card Payment Form.

• Frequently requested fax numbers appear in the table below. For a comprehensive listing of fax numbers, refer to the Contact us page.

The mailing address depends on the type of payment you wish to make. We accept checks or money orders, credit and debit cards, or deposit accounts when paying by mail. For credit and debit card payments, include the Credit Card Payment Form.

• For a listing of current mailing addresses, refer to the Mailing and hand carry addresses page.

If our systems are unavailable, see Filing Patent documents during an outage or Filing PTAB documents during an outage for alternative methods to file and pay fees.

Trademark fees

Trademark fees must generally be paid using the Trademark Electronic Application System (TEAS) and are not accepted by fax or regular mail except in certain circumstances, such as a system outage.

If our systems are unavailable, see Filing Trademark documents during an outage or Filing TTAB documents during an outage for alternative methods to file and pay fees.