NACHA UPDATES

Important Nacha updates for ACH Origination Customers effective March 20, 2026

Action Required

Please review the below and prepare accordingly to ensure compliance with the updated Rules.

Nacha has announced a Rules amendment to standardize uses of certain Company Entry Descriptions. Standardized uses of the Company Entry Description can help parties in the ACH Network identify, monitor, and count the volume of payments for specific purposes, and can help manage risk. This Rule amendment introduces two new defined Company Entry Descriptions: PAYROLL and PURCHASE.

  • Standard Company Entry Description – PAYROLL

This rule establishes a new standard description for PPD Credits for payment of wages, salaries, and similar types of compensation. The Company Entry Description field must contain the description PAYROLL.

  • Standard Company Entry Description – PURCHASE

This amendment establishes a new standard description for e-commerce purchases; the Company Entry Description field must contain the description PURCHASE.

Language for the definition of e-commerce purchases:

“For this purpose, an e-commerce purchase is a debit Entry authorized by a consumer Receiver for the online purchase of goods, including recurring purchases first authorized online. An e-commerce purchase uses the WEB debit SEC Code, except as permitted by the rule on Standing Authorization to use the TEL SEC Code.”

FAQs

1. What do you need to do? Update the Company Entry Descriptions in your ACH Software or Templates before March 20, 2026. 
2. For payroll and other compensation payments, is the Originator permitted to utilize the remaining characters in the Company Entry Description field for additional descriptive purposes? 
Yes. Originators initiating payroll and other compensation payments are required to include “PAYROLL” within the leftmost 7 characters of the Company Entry Description field. At the Originator’s discretion, it may utilize the remaining 3 characters for additional descriptive purposes.
Examples:
PAYROLL
PAYROLL 02
PAYROLL424
PAYROLLEMP
3. Do contributions to an employee’s Health Savings Account (HSA) require use of the new ‘PAYROLL’ Company Entry Description? Yes.  A payroll deduction deposited to an HSA is a pre-tax component of salary. Therefore, it must carry the ‘PAYROLL’ Company Entry Description.

4. Who can I call if I have additional questions? The Online Banking team may be reached at 985-348-0561.

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