DC payment service provider bonds.
From $100. Enter your amount.
A payment service provider (PSP) — the business behind a taxicab’s modern taximeter system — cannot process in-vehicle payments in the District without approval from the Department of For-Hire Vehicles, and 31 DCMR § 403.3 requires the application to arrive with a surcharge bond. DFHV’s PSP/MTS application has called for an original $100,000 bond payable to the D.C. Treasurer. The premium is 1% of the bond amount, $100 minimum; the application collects no credit information.
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The surcharge bond is a checklist attachment, not an underwriting project. Enter your amount, pay, and attach it to the application. Here is the whole thing:
Apply online
Your company details, the bond amount DFHV requires, and an effective date that lines up with the licensing period. That is the entire application.
Issued
The application collects no credit information, and most applications approve instantly. Your executed bond and power of attorney are generated as soon as you pay.
File with DFHV
Attach the executed bond to your PSP/MTS application or renewal. DFHV takes applications on paper, so we mail the wet-ink original whenever you need it.
What it is and who needs it.
What the surcharge bond actually guarantees
Chapter 4 of Title 31 DCMR governs taxicab payment service providers — the companies that supply and support the modern taximeter systems District taxicabs are required to run. Approval of a PSP’s MTS is what gives the company its operating authority, and § 403.3 requires each application to be made under penalty of perjury and to arrive with a $1,000 application fee and a surcharge bond. The rules define a surcharge bond plainly: a bond payable to the D.C. Treasurer for the purpose of securing the payment of passenger surcharges to the District.
That is the money the bond stands behind. A PSP collects the passenger surcharge — currently 25 cents per trip — as an authorized additional charge on every taxicab trip, and must remit it to the D.C. Treasurer at the end of each seven-day period with an emailed report certifying the payment. If a discrepancy over surcharges owed cannot be resolved within 30 days, § 408.15(d) lets the Office make a claim directly against the surcharge bond. It is not insurance for the PSP: if the surety pays, the PSP repays the surety.
The bond outlives the licence by a year. DFHV’s published PSP/MTS application has required an original surety bond of $100,000 payable to the D.C. Treasurer, effective during the licensing period and for one year thereafter, on the department’s own bond form, and the form permits cancellation only on 60 days’ written notice to DFHV by registered or certified mail. Under § 408.15(e) the bond is returned within 30 days after the business loses its operating authority — but not while a surcharge discrepancy is open. Renewal applications are due at least 60 days before the MTS approval expires, with a $1,000 late fee after that.
You need this bond if you are
One application, issued instantly.
These are the actual issuing fields — your company details, the bond amount DFHV requires, and an effective date. There is no credit section, because this application collects no credit information.
Start the application →Common questions.
Other District of Columbia bonds.
Attach the surcharge bond and file with DFHV.
From $100, no credit section, and the bond issues as soon as you pay. Enter the amount DFHV requires and keep the application moving. Free until issued.